(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 Woodbridge, Virginia, according to Fox News. He was identified as one of the top leaders of the Salvadoran MS-13 gang, authorities said without releasing the suspect’s name.
White House press secretary Karoline Leavitt and FBI Director Kash Patel confirmed the arrest in posts on X. President Donald Trump said in a Truth Social post that a major leader of the gang was 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 relating to his alleged involvement in 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)
