The Civil Guard arrests a drug dealer in Madrid and a hitman in Pamplona for the triple murder in El Saler

On Monday, the Civil Guard arrested two men in Madrid and Pamplona for their alleged involvement in the triple murder in El Saler, the shooting of a Colombian drug dealer and two other individuals accompanying him on the night of February 27, 2024.

One of the arrested individuals, Álvaro Luis Ospina Illera, known as 'La Negra Dominga', is considered the mastermind behind the triple murder, while the other man apprehended is one of the hitmen who shot the victims. The Valencia Civil Guard's Homicide Group managed to identify and arrest the alleged murderers after a thorough investigation, which remains open to capture all those involved.

A drug-related vendetta in Colombia is the main hypothesis considered by investigators. The victims were shot just 30 meters from one of the apartment towers in El Saler. One of the bodies was found inside a Volkswagen Passat, while the other two were outside the car, near one of the front doors and the trunk.

As previously reported by this newspaper, officers found around twenty 9mm Parabellum shell casings inside and outside the vehicle. Shortly before being shot, the three Colombians were in a tourist apartment located in the tower closest to the crime scene.

The emergency services received the first alert of the gruesome discovery at 9:30 PM. A resident of the building, returning home after work, raised the alarm upon discovering the bodies. The woman parked her car next to a Volkswagen Passat and noticed two people on the ground, prompting her to check if something had happened to them.

Upon seeing the bloodied bodies, the witness was very frightened and immediately called 112. Although the three men suffered numerous gunshot wounds, no neighbor heard the shots. Investigators believe that two or three hitmen opened fire on the Colombian drug dealer and his two companions.

After receiving the shooting alert, a relative of one of the murdered men went to the Gola de Pujol Avenue to identify him. The woman suffered an anxiety attack and began to scream when she recognized the victim. "You came to Spain and here you stayed," she said through tears.

The Civil Guard's Homicide Group officers searched an apartment in El Saler where the victims had stayed that same night. Two investigators returned the next day to the residence to look for evidence and fingerprints.

One of the three murdered men, Roberto Carlos Vega Daza, was a Colombian drug dealer whose family was gunned down in 2023 in the port city of Barranquilla. The other two victims, Harold J. and José S., were the drug dealer's bodyguards. The three drug dealers died in an ambush orchestrated and ordered by Álvaro Luis Ospina, according to Civil Guard investigations.

In the Barranquilla shooting, which took place on June 29, 2023, Vega's father and two brothers were killed after receiving more than 30 gunshots. Two hitmen stormed a house and shot the victims with their rifles. The Colombian drug dealer was injured and fled to Panama to continue his criminal activities. Months later, he sought international alliances to continue trafficking cocaine and settled in Spain, according to police investigations.

The family of the murdered drug dealer owned a private security company that also rented apartments and commercial premises, but their businesses were linked to shady dealings, and the clan was investigated for fraud, document forgery, and assault, among other crimes.

Roberto Carlos Vega and his brother Ronald were involved in another crime in 2018 when they exchanged gunfire with an alleged hitman in northern Barranquilla. The two clan members shot the gunman dead because he had allegedly tried to kill the two brothers. Roberto Carlos was injured in the armed confrontation, making the El Saler shooting the third he had experienced in six years.

The cartel led by Ospina sought Roberto Carlos Vega to kill him in revenge for a bloody birthday party. A group of individuals, including several members of Beto's family, shot at other guests after an argument over alleged sexual harassment of a woman during the family celebration in the municipality of Puerto Colombia. In the confrontation, the adopted son of 'La Negra Dominga' was killed, prompting the drug dealer to vow revenge.

After learning of these criminal backgrounds, the Civil Guard focused the investigation of the El Saler triple murder on a vendetta between the two rival drug trafficking gangs. Álvaro Luis Ospina, who was arrested on Monday in Madrid, had been living in Spain with his wife and son for several months, although he frequently traveled to Colombia to oversee his illicit businesses as the leader of the Los Piloneros gang.

On March 6, the police arrested 'La Negra Dominga' in Barranquilla for possession and trafficking of firearms, but a judge released him. The Valencia Civil Guard was already investigating him for allegedly ordering the El Saler triple murder, so they set up a surveillance operation in Madrid to arrest him when he traveled to Spain to meet his wife and son.

Additionally, the Homicide Group officers continued their investigations to identify and arrest the material perpetrators of the crime: three Colombian hitmen. Two of them fled to their country shortly after the murders, but the third was located and arrested on Monday in Pamplona. This detainee, who was imprisoned on Wednesday, will be brought before the Valencia judge handling the case in the coming days.

Colombian Anti-Narcotics Directorate agents suspect that the drug dealer murdered in El Saler traveled to Albania to establish connections with the Balkan cartel and later settled in Valencia to control the arrival of drug shipments.

Investigators from the Civil Guard's Organized Crime and Anti-Drug Team (EDOA) and the Police's Drug and Organized Crime Unit (UDYCO) have detected alliances between Colombian and Albanian drug dealers in recent years to introduce large quantities of cocaine into the port of Valencia.