Almost a thousand kilometers from Barranquilla (Atlántico) -epicenter of the criminal gang ‘Los Costeños’- one of the alleged leaders of that illegal organization was captured in a residential building in Cajicá.
The detainee is considered a trusted man of Jorge Eliécer Díaz Collazos, ‘Castor’, the top leader of that criminal group.
At least six National Police officers entered one of the apartments in the building to capture alias Mauricio Quesero, who was on the most wanted list for homicide in Barranquilla and who, according to authorities, would be the second in command of that structure.
Fake documents and Venezuela
He is Mauricio José Escorcia Villa, originally from Calamar (Bolívar) and 30 years old.
‘Mauricio Quesero’ is accused of coordinating contract killings, extortions, and controlling the criminal revenues of ‘Los Costeños’. And he was wanted for the crimes of homicide and arms trafficking.
In fact, authorities assure that he was the organization’s link with transnational drug trafficking and arms trafficking networks.
EL TIEMPO investigated and established that in November 2024, ‘Mauricio Quesero’ had already been detained at the Simón Bolívar International Bridge, on the border with Venezuela, after being expelled from that country for entering with false documents.
At that time, he was linked to at least 7 massacres that occurred in the metropolitan area of Barranquilla in 2023, in which 26 people lost their lives.
But his capture after attempting to enter Venezuela with false documents is not ‘Mauricio Quesero’s’ only connection to that country, because according to files against the leader in EL TIEMPO’s possession, he had already been prosecuted for the murder of a Venezuelan woman, linked to his ex-partner.
The fallen associate
In a hearing held in July 2024 at the 3rd Criminal Court with Mixed Functions of Soledad (Atlántico) against ‘Mauricio Quesero’, Miguel Pardo, local prosecutor for intentional homicides, reported that, in May 2021, the alleged leader had murdered a woman in the Tajamar neighborhood of that city in collaboration with another criminal associate who was killed.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, which charged ‘Mauricio Quesero’ with the crimes of homicide and illegal possession of weapons as a co-perpetrator – charges that were not accepted – he drove a red Suzuki motorcycle to the Tajamar neighborhood, taking another subject identified as Mauricio Andrés Greco, alias ‘Greco’, to a house in the Tajamar neighborhood.
According to authorities’ records, ‘Greco’ got off the motorcycle and shot a Venezuelan woman four times who was on the terrace of her house, and who died after being taken to a nearby hospital.
EL TIEMPO investigated and established that Mauricio Andrés Greco Jinete, alias ‘Greco’, ‘Mauricio Quesero’s’ criminal associate in that homicide, was killed the same month in a confrontation with the Police in Malambo (Atlántico).
At that time, ‘Greco’ was posting photos on social media showing off long-range weapons, pistols, grenades, and bulletproof vests from ‘Los Costeños’.
The ex-mother-in-law
Prosecutor Pardo also revealed that as part of the evidentiary material against ‘Mauricio Quesero’ were also the testimonies of the victim’s husband.
The man assured authorities that he recognized the driver of the motorcycle on which the hitman arrived, even though he was wearing a helmet, because it was his stepdaughter’s ex-partner.
According to that version, known by EL TIEMPO, the victim’s husband recognized ‘Mauricio Quesero’ because his father sold cheeses in the Tajamar neighborhood. Hence his alias.
Furthermore, he reported that the criminal had had a child with his stepdaughter, who died after an attack just five months earlier.
And a son-in-law of the murdered woman, who also witnessed the contract killing, said that the victim looked very much like ‘Quesero’s’ ex-partner and that he was “jealous” of her.
‘He was in Venezuela’
EL TIEMPO contacted Lina Barraza, Mauricio José Escorcia Villa’s lawyer, to ask about the capture in Cajicá and she began by assuring that her client has not been convicted in any process.
“Mr. Escorcia regained his freedom due to expiration of terms in November 2025, he was in Cómbita prison. Now he is being captured for another homicide process, due to an arrest warrant issued in October last year, a month before he regained his freedom,” explained Barraza.
She also said that this capture is related to the murder of two men, but that they will prove, even before a security measure is imposed, that at the time of the events her client was in Venezuela: “Mr. Escorcia was in that country for approximately seven months, detained, before being sent to Colombia. At the time of the events for which he was captured, he was still in Venezuela.”
And regarding his connection to ‘Los Costeños’, she assured that his processes are in ordinary justice and that he has never been prosecuted for conspiracy to commit a crime: “Therefore, the defense infers that if he has not been charged with any connection to that group, it is because they do not have sufficient elements to prove it.”
(Consult all articles from EL TIEMPO’s Investigative Unit here)
However, associates of the criminal organization told EL TIEMPO that he did belong to that gang, but that he currently has no connection with it.
And judicial sources assured that despite the lawyer’s version, the fact that he was in Venezuela at the same time as the murder would not be enough to prove that he is not linked to the crimes attributed to him.
INVESTIGATIVE UNIT
u.investigativa@eltiempo.com
@UinvestigativaET
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