Police said that Alvarez was seriously injured during the arrest and ten of his gang members were also taken. He is currently hospitalized.
Los Urbanos is one of several organizations formed from members of the Colombian paramilitary group the United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia (AUC) which was demobilized in 2006. Under Alverez’s direction, Los Urbanos served as a major drug trafficking and extortion operation working in northwest Colombia.
Alvarez is wanted in the United States for cocaine trafficking in addition to two warrants for his arrest in Colombia. On Wednesday, Colombia extradited Diago Perez Henao, one of the leaders of the rival Rastrojos gang, to the United States.
The operation comes less than a week after Rastrojos leader Jorge Dominguez Falla Elieze was arrested in Ecuador.
