Colombian police said they captured 121 people charged with kidnapping and extortion in a coordinated, multi-city operation that authorities described as an effort to dismantle criminal groups’ ability to profit from those crimes.
The deployment, known as “Operation Jade,” involved police units operating in several cities and provinces targeted by drug traffickers and rebel groups, with arrests carried out in large cities including Bogota, Medellin and Cartagena, as well as in smaller cities in the provinces of Choco, Huila and Cesar.
In a statement Tuesday, Colombia’s National Police director, Gen. William Oswaldo Rincón, said police were sending “the unequivocal message that in Colombia there is no space for kidnappings and extortion,” and added that “every arrest weakens the finances of criminal groups and returns tranquility to communities.”
Police said the operation targeted members of several illegal groups, including the Gulf Clan, the National Liberation Army and the Venezuelan gang Tren de Aragua.
The crackdown comes as Colombia’s government has struggled to contain drug traffickers and rebel groups competing for territory, including areas authorities say were abandoned after the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia reached a 2016 peace deal with the government.
Authorities said groups in the country often finance themselves by taxing local businesses and kidnapping civilians for ransom, a dynamic that has continued to drive concern among police and defense officials.
Colombia’s government said that in 2025 the Ministry of Defense registered 651 cases in which people were kidnapped for ransom, a 108% increase from the previous year, while defense officials also reported a decrease in extortion cases, with 12,180 recorded in 2025—a 12% drop from the previous year.
The government’s efforts also extend beyond Colombia’s borders. El Salvador recently filed a complaint against Colombia alleging that prisoners in the South American country were threatening Salvadoran residents through extortion calls, prompting Colombia to block mobile phone signals in three prisons from where the calls had apparently been made.