Admin l Friday, April 14, 2023
TEXAS – Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation, Mr. Christopher Wray and the FBI Houston Field Office, along with the U.S. Attorney’s Office in the Southern District of Texas, today announced the addition of Wilver Villegas-Palomino to the FBI’s Ten Most Wanted Fugitives list for his alleged involvement in narcoterrorism and drug trafficking activities.
Villegas-Palomino, aka Carlos El Puerco, is the 530th addition to the list. The United States Department of State’s Narcotics Rewards Program is offering a reward of up to $5 million for information leading to the arrest and/or conviction of Villegas-Palomino.
Villegas-Palomino is a ranking member of the National Liberation Army (Ejército de Liberación Nacional, also known as ELN), a paramilitary narcoterrorism group. He is wanted for his alleged involvement in drug trafficking activities for the ELN Northeastern War Front (NEWF) in the Catatumbo region of Colombia and Venezuela.
A federal arrest warrant was issued for Villegas-Palomino in the United States Attorney’s Office, Southern District of Texas, on February 13, 2020.
Villegas-Palomino and five co-defendants were involved in a 20-year conspiracy to distribute cocaine from Colombia to the United States.
Three of those co-defendants were extradited to the U.S. in 2021. It was the first time members of the ELN had been extradited to the U.S. in the group’s nearly 60-year history to face narcoterrorism and drug trafficking charges.
