Venezuelan Crime Crackdown Leads to 2000 Arrests

Nearly 2,000 people have been arrested in Venezuela's crackdown on paramilitaries and smuggling, the country's government announced Monday.

According to Interior Minister Gustavo Lopez, the arrests were made during a series of special operations carried out over the past three months under the government's anti-crime initiative, the Operations for the Liberation of the People (OLP).

“During the past 96 days, the OLP has carried out 100 operations, during which 67,939 deployed officials have succeeded in capturing 1,852 people for various crimes, dismantled 109 gangs, seized 1,272 firearms, and recovered 207 cars and 353 vehicles,” Lopez told state broadcaster VTV.

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Lopez attributed the success of the OLP to increased coordination between law enforcement and security bodies, including the National Guard and local police.

In a separate statement, Defense Minister Vladimir Padrino Lopez said military operations under the OLP have resulted in the capture of over 200 vehicles used by smugglers in the past five days. The minister also said the military had seized over 608,000 liters of contraband petroleum products. The Venezuelan government says fuel is one of the most smuggled goods nationwide. Fuel costs in Venezuela are a fraction of that in neighboring Colombia and Brazil, largely due to government price controls that keep consumer costs low.

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Warning smuggling of fuel and other consumer products was on the rise, the government launched the OLP in July. Along with targeting smuggling, the OLP has also led to a crackdown on paramilitaries and other organized crime.

Maduro has warned as many as 30 paramilitary groups were operating in Venezuela when the crackdown began.

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