Venezuela's notorious gang-led prison with zoo, pool, brothel and club is raided

22 September 2023 , 09:13

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Inmates were lined up outside the jail building before authorities started to transfer them out (Image: NicolasMaduro/Twitter)

A gang-run prison in Venezuela with a zoo, swimming pool, brothel and nightclub has been taken back into the hands of the Government.

The Tocoron prison acted as the Tren de Aragua gang’s headquarters for years, where it turned into something not too dissimilar from a resort hotel. The major operation in the South American country involved 11,000 members of its security forces.

In a statement on Wednesday, the government congratulated law enforcement officers for regaining "total control" of the prison, adding the operation had "dismantled a centre of conspiracy and crime."

It was described as "a city within a prison", with drug lords from cartels living with their families and running their criminal activities from behind bars. According to an investigation by Venezuelan journalist Ronna Risquez, the gang has about 5,000 members and is involved in kidnappings, robberies, drug trafficking, prostitution and extortion. She described the prison as a "hotel" for the gang leaders with a bank, baseball field, restaurant and nightclub.

Prisoners at the Tocorón Penitentiary centre sit next to each other after 11,000 cops and soldiers stormed the jail (Mippcivzla/Twitter)

When food and everyday items were unavailable in Venezuela at the height of the country's economic crisis, one newspaper reported that locals would go to the prison to buy the essentials they could not get anywhere else.

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Tank-like armoured vehicles were seen rolling into the prison, some of them painted white and disguised as ambulances. Police found a pond where a group of flamingoes were living, as well as TVs and microwaves in cells. They also reportedly found well-constructed tunnels, down which some drug bosses are believed to have fled as the raid unfolded.

Guns, rifles, ammunition and grenades were found during a sweep (Mippcivzla/Twitter)

Venezuelan security forces raid the Tocorón Penitentiary Centre

The operation was the largest security operation ever ordered by Nicolás Maduro, the Venezuelan president, during his 11 years in power. Venezuelan newspaper El Nacional reported that between 400 to 500 prisoners were still missing. Union Radio reported that the fugitives may be hiding out in the mountain area near El Junquito. After the initial jubilant statement, a later one announced that a "second phase" of the operation had been launched, which the government said consisted of "capturing all and every one of the escaped criminals".

Flamingos at the zoo - it also reportedly housed lions, tigers, pumas and crocodiles (OliverLopezCano/Twitter)

Some local media have reported that the leader of the Tren de Aragua gang, Héctor Guerrero Flores, may be among those who fled, but the government has not named any of the escapees. Guerrero Flores was serving a 17-year sentence inside for murder and drug trafficking. The army also said that there had been one casualty, a major who had died after hitting his head on the door of an armoured car.

Rachel Hagan