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

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

LOOK: Argentina: Peruvian drug trafficker ‘Dumbo’ is interned in a maximum security prison

In said penitentiary center, Maylín Rivera will comply with the preventive detention ordered against him while awaiting an oral trial, after he refused to testify in court since November 2023.

‘Dumbo’ is accused of being the leader of a gang dedicated to “narcotics trade aggravated by the involvement of three or more organized persons, by the involvement of minors, and by having been committed in the vicinity of establishments where sports activities are carried out; organization or financing of activities related to the trade of narcotics, their entry into the national territory and smuggling; and collection of firearms and ammunition”, as detailed in an article in the Argentine newspaper “La Nación”.

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

At that time, ‘Dumbo’ had tried to elude the authorities by falsifying a death certificate due to Covid-19 and had even installed a tombstone with his name in the San José de Flores cemetery, in Buenos Aires. That is why, when referring to his transfer to the Ezeiza prison, the Argentine Minister of Security, Patricia Bullrich, baptized the operation on the social network X as The Living Dead.

– Criminal network –

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

The ‘Dumbo’ gang operated next to a kindergarten, a soup kitchen and a soccer field. In addition, he used minors to sell drugs, hoping that they would be immune from prosecution if discovered.

“The sale was done in two shifts 24 hours a day, seven days a week. ”the authorities noted. Pedestrian and vehicular entrances to the neighborhood were also controlled by armed men in the service of ‘Dumbo’.

“They were handled by guards – heavily armed with firearms, which they carried in their clothes and displayed in an intimidating manner – who provided security within the neighborhood to carry out the activity. As part of the control exercised by the association, in the area they used garbage cans, refrigerators and/or armchairs placed on the streets to prevent the entry of vehicles.”says the tax accusation against him.

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

“There are Peruvian drug traffickers who settled in a couple of neighborhoods in Buenos Aires. Usually they have dedicated themselves 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 imprisoned in Argentina.”comments to Trade “La Nación” journalist specialized in police and judicial news Gabriel Di Nicola.

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

– Capture and extradition –

To date, it is unknown how ‘Dumbo’ would have managed to flee Argentina despite the fact that there was an arrest warrant for him and a reward of 5 million pesos (about 6 thousand dollars at the current exchange rate) had been offered for whoever give information about his whereabouts.

“At the time the case had a lot of coverage, but over time it lost interest in public opinion. It attracted a lot of interest at first because the residents of the Padre Mugica neighborhood went out one day to block General Paz Avenue, 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 move into hiding, a lawyer for ‘Dumbo’ presented a death certificate due to Covid-19 to the Argentine courts. The investigations, however, determined that the document was false.

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

It should be noted that during the absence of ‘Dumbo’, the area was taken over 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 hideout in Lima.

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

This is how an agent from the Argentine Federal Police closely followed ‘Bear’, who traveled by boat from Buenos Aires to Colonia, in 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 he was leaving a restaurant near San Silvestre Park, in the San Juan de Lurigancho district. That same week, his extradition was requested.

‘Dumbo’ arrived in Argentina on November 15 of last year averaging 6:30 pm through a commercial flight operated by Latam. The criminal was escorted by Interpol Argentina personnel and was 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 an oral trial. In September 2023, about 20 members of his gang were sentenced to terms of up to 14 years in prison. The sentence that could fall on ‘Dumbo’ after the judicial process against him is unknown.

“That is still missing because the trial will be next year or even the following year, the rules provide two years to start the trial from the start of the prosecution. Surely ‘Dumbo’ will be convicted with the evidence there is, but for now we have to wait for the trial”says Di Nicola.