U.S. offers $5M reward for capture of Los Choneros leader

DOWNTOWN BROOKLYN — THE U.S. STATE Department is offering up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest of Ecuadorian fugitive Francisco Manuel Bermúdez Cagua, age 29, an alleged senior leader of Los Choneros, a violent criminal group designated a Foreign Terrorist Organization earlier this year. 

Bermúdez Cagua is charged in Brooklyn federal court with international cocaine trafficking and firearms offenses tied to a multi-ton drug pipeline into the United States, according to prosecutors in the Eastern District of New York. Authorities say he served as a top lieutenant in the organization, which used extreme violence to protect its operations.