The US government has sanctioned the Venezuelan criminal gang known as the Aragua Train and classified it as a transnational criminal organization that also uses cryptocurrencies to carry out its activities throughout the continent.
According to a statement from the Treasury Office, the US government is offering $12 million as a reward for information leading to the arrest of the gang's leaders.
In its letter, Washington accuses the prison gang of spreading criminal activity across Latin America, including kidnapping, extortion and human trafficking.
As Tren de Aragua has expanded, it has opportunistically infiltrated local criminal economies in South America, established transnational financial operations, laundered funds through cryptocurrencies, and formed ties to the Primeiro Comando da Capital, a notorious, US-sanctioned organized crime group in Brazil.
Treasury Office Press Release.
As the document adds, as a result of the sanction, all assets and interests of the gang, including addresses and cryptocurrency wallets that are in the possession or control of persons linked to the Aragua Train, must be blocked and reported to OFAC.
The criminal organization thus joins the Salvadoran gang MS-13 and the Italian Camorra, which are also part of the list of transnational criminal organizations that are prohibited from doing business in the United States.
Although the Treasury Office's statement does not offer details on how the Venezuelan gang uses cryptocurrencies in its activities, media reports from several countries in the region, mainly Chile, explain how they have been using them for some time.
In this regard, they indicate that cryptoassets are used by members of the Tren de Aragua to make cross-border shipments. It is said that the gang members use cryptocurrency platforms to exchange fiat currencies and send the money from robberies and extortions to the gang leaders (called pranes), who are mostly in prisons in Venezuela or other countries.
So far, there are no figures or data showing the volume of cryptocurrency transactions that the criminals of the Venezuelan gang are said to be carrying out in order to mobilize the resources obtained from their crimes. There is also no explicit information on the type of cryptocurrencies they use to finance their activities.
For several years, there are reports that indicate that organized crime in Latin America, including Mexican drug cartels, would be financing itself with cryptocurrencies. To do so, they would use some P2P platforms that operate in the region along with dark web sites.
Although a few months ago the news about hundreds of Bitcoin miners operated by prisoners in Tocorón, which experts considered to be the center of operations of the Aragua Train, became public. There, during a massive escape of prisoners, among whom was the leader of the criminal organization Héctor Guerrero Flores, alias “Niño Guerrero”, the authorities discovered a Bitcoin mining farm with hundreds of machines.
However, reports also show that the use of crypto assets is still very low among criminals. Especially considering that there are currently various methods that allow alerting the authorities and also facilitate tracking the movements that are made and blocking addresses involved in criminal acts. It is known that - globally - less than 1% of the money related to criminal acts is linked to cryptocurrencies.
