Who is ‘Dumbo’, the Peruvian drug trafficker who became Argentina’s most wanted criminal?

In the midst of a huge mobilization of agents of the Argentine Federal Police and the Federal Penitentiary Service, in the last few hours Raúl Martín Maylín Rivera, aka ‘Dumbo’, a dangerous Peruvian drug trafficker who became the most wanted criminal in that country, was transferred to the Ezeiza I maximum security prison.

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In the aforementioned penitentiary center, Maylín Rivera will serve the preventive detention ordered for him pending the oral trial, after refusing to testify in court since November 2023.

‘Dumbo’ is accused of being the leader of a gang dedicated to “drug trafficking aggravated by the involvement of three or more organized people, by the involvement of minors and by being carried out close to establishments where sporting activities take place; organization or financing of activities related to the drug trade, its entry into national territory and smuggling; and collection of firearms and ammunition”, as detailed in an article in the Argentine newspaper “La Nación”.

‘Dumbo’ managed to escape from Argentina in May 2021, despite becoming the most wanted criminal by authorities in that country. A year and a half later, in October 2022, joint work by the Argentine and Peruvian police allowed him to be captured in the district of San Juan de Lurigancho.

At that time, ‘Dumbo’ had tried to elude the authorities by forging a Covid-19 death certificate and even installed a tombstone with his name in the San José de Flores cemetery, in Buenos Aires. Therefore, when referring to his transfer to Ezeiza prison, the Argentine Security Minister, Patricia Bullrich, named the operation on the social network X as El Muerto Vivo.

According to investigations led by prosecutor Diego Iglesias, ‘Dumbo’ headed a criminal organization that had been operating since 2018 in the Bermejo and Padre Mugica neighborhoods, in Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires.

The ‘Dumbo’ gang operated next to a kindergarten, a cafeteria and a football field. Additionally, he used minors to sell drugs, hoping they would be immune from prosecution if discovered.

“Sales were carried out in two shifts, 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ,” authorities noted. Pedestrian and vehicle entrances to the neighborhood were also controlled by armed men working for ‘Dumbo’.

“They were manned by guards – heavily armed with firearms, which they carried on their clothes and displayed in an intimidating manner – who provided security in the neighborhood for the activity to take place. As part of the control exercised by the association, trash cans, refrigerators and/or armchairs placed on the streets were used at the site to prevent vehicles from entering.”, says the tax accusation against him.

The ‘Dumbo’ gang operated in the Bermejo and Padre Mugica neighborhoods, in Villa Lugano, Buenos Aires.

The ‘Dumbo’ gang would be a split from the organization led by renowned Peruvian drug trafficker Marco Estrada González, and would have operated with total impunity until May 2021.

“There are Peruvian drug traffickers who have set up shop in some neighborhoods of Buenos Aires. They are generally dedicated to cocaine trafficking, while Paraguayans traffic marijuana. The first important drug traffickers to settle here were Marco Estrada González and his brother Fernando. They were the two main Peruvian drug traffickers. Now Marco is detained in Peru and his brother, after spending 15 years on the run, was arrested in Argentina.”comments for The trade Journalist from “La Nación” specialized in police and judicial news Gabriel Di Nicola.

In May 2021, in fact, a police operation allowed the capture of 12 members of the ‘Dumbo’ gang, including a minor son of the criminal, and a significant amount of drugs was seized, in addition to an arsenal consisting of Ithaca-type shotguns; FMK3 submachine guns; revolvers of different calibers, pistols, silencers and bulletproof vests, among others, stated the Argentine newspaper in its report.

So far, it is not known how ‘Dumbo’ managed to escape from Argentina, despite there being a warrant for his arrest and a reward of 5 million pesos (about 6 thousand dollars at current exchange rates) being offered to anyone who whatever it was. provide information about his whereabouts.

“At the time the case received a lot of coverage, but over time it lost public interest. It initially attracted a lot of interest because residents of the Padre Mugica neighborhood went out one day to block Avenida General Paz, one of the main arteries of Buenos Aires. They were tired of the fact that there were shootings every day due to clashes between drug traffickers.”, says Di Nicola.

During his time in hiding, a lawyer from ‘Dumbo’ presented a death certificate due to Covid-19 to the Argentine courts. Investigations, however, determined that the document was false.

Argentine police were closely following the steps of ‘Dumbo’ and the rest of his gang shortly before carrying out the May 2021 operation.

Exhaustive police work, which included intervening the telephone lines of ‘Dumbo’ and other suspects from his closest environment, made it possible to discover that the criminal was hiding in Peru.

It should be noted that during ‘Dumbo’s absence, the area was occupied by another Peruvian criminal identified as Nicolás Silva Ames, alias ‘Tío Ricky’, whose gang would have clashed on more than one occasion with that of Maylín Rivera, who continued sending orders from his hiding place in Lima.

In mid-October 2022, Argentine police suspected that Jonathan Camelino, alias ‘Oso’, one of Dumbo’s ‘lieutenants, would travel to Peru to meet his leader. Coordination would have been done between the criminal and the companion of the fugitive criminal.

This is how an Argentine Federal Police agent closely followed ‘Bear’, who traveled by boat from Buenos Aires to Colonia, Uruguay, and then took a flight to Lima. Already in the Peruvian capital, the Argentine agent coordinated with the National Police to capture ‘Dumbo’.

The criminal was arrested on October 28, 2022, when leaving a restaurant near Parque San Silvestre, in the San Juan de Lurigancho neighborhood. That same week his extradition was requested.

‘Dumbo’ arrived in Argentina on November 15th last year, on average, at 6:30 pm, via a commercial flight operated by Latam. The criminal was escorted by Interpol Argentina employees and later transferred to the Federal Police headquarters.

Given the refusal to testify before federal judge number 11 Julián Ercolini, it was determined that ‘Dumbo’ should serve preventive detention pending the oral trial. In September 2023, around 20 members of his gang were sentenced to sentences of up to 14 years in prison. The sentence that could befall ‘Dumbo’ following the legal proceedings against him is unknown.

“This is still missing because the trial will be next year or even the year after, the rules provide for two years to start the trial from the beginning of the accusation. Certainly ‘Dumbo’ will be convicted with the evidence that exists, but for now we have to wait for the trial”, says Di Nicola.

Source: Elcomercio