March 27 (Reuters) – Federal authorities arrested a leader of the violent Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13) gang in Virginia on Thursday, Trump administration officials said.
The FBI, along with state and local authorities, took the 24-year-old suspect into custody in Prince William County, Virginia. He was identified as one of the top three leaders of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, Attorney General Pamela Bondi said during a news conference after the arrest was made.
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Bondi did not identify the suspect, but said he was living in the United States illegally. She said he was recruited by the gang at an early age and was head of the gang’s operation on the East Coast.
“The bad guy is in jail,” Bondi said, noting that the suspect lived just 35 miles (56 km) from Washington. “America is safer today because of one of the top domestic terrorists in MS-13 … is off the streets.”
President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that a major leader of the gang had been captured, without giving specifics.
Earlier this month, U.S. dropped charges against Cesar Lopez-Larios, another MS-13 leader, in order to deport him to El Salvador as part of a deal with El Salvador’s President Nayib Bukele.
More than a dozen MS-13 members were indicted in 2020 on terrorism charges related to organized crime in the U.S., Mexico and El Salvador over the past two decades.
Reporting by Brendan O’Brien in Chicago Editing by Doina Chiacu and Frances Kerry
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