‘Pequeño J,’ suspected mastermind of triple murder, detained in Peru

Argentina's government confirmed on Tuesday that a suspected drug-trafficker known as "Pequeño J," the allleged mastermind of last week’s brutal triple murder in Florencio Varela, had been apprehended in Peru.

Local media on Tuesday reported that Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, alias "Pequeño J," was arrested in an operation involving members of the Peruvian National Police Force and the Buenos Aires Province Police Force.

The 20-year-old was captured in Pucusana, a fishing and beach resort area 70 kilometres from Lima, after a series of telephone exchanges that allowed him to be located. 

"I would like to congratulate the Peruvian National Police for their tremendous work and collaboration in capturing the two fugitives involved in the triple murder. The Anti-Drug Directorate arrested 'Pequeño J' in Pucusana," National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said in a post on the X social network

Earlier, Bullrich had announced the capture of another suspect, Matías Ozorio, also in Peru. 

Both are now set to be extradited to Argentina in the coming hours, given they are the subjects of international arrest warrants issued by Prosecutor Adrián Arribas

The bodies of Morena Verdi and Brenda del Castillo, cousins aged 20, and 15-year-old Lara Gutiérrez were found buried last Wednesday in the yard of a house in a southern suburb of Buenos Aires, five days after they went missing.

The crime, which investigators tied to drug gangs, was allegedly streamed live on Instagram to a closed group of 45 people as a “warning” after a suspected theft of drugs, officials have said.

A total of nine people have now been arrested in connection with the case.

The other detainees have been named by authorities as Maximiliano Parra, Magalí Guerrero, Miguel Ángel Villanueva Silva, Daniela Ibarra, Ariel Giménez, Lázaro Víctor Sotacuro and Florencia Ibáñez.

– TIMES/NA/AFP