Tuesday, March 16, 2021 | 4:50 p.m.
An alleged MS-13 member wanted by international authorities on murder and terrorism-related charges in his native El Salvador was arrested at his Las Vegas home, according to the Department of Homeland Security.
Noe Victelio Rivera-Batres, 50, was arrested March 3 by a task force that comprises Metro Police officers and U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, after he failed to turn himself into immigration authorities in February, officials said.
Rivera-Batres, who is also known by his alias “Colocho,” is in ICE custody, officials said.
Rivera-Batres is a “known or suspected” member of the Mara Salvatrucha, who allegedly “participated” in an Oct. 31, 2015, killing at a cemetery in Ozatlan, El Salvador, officials said. They did not disclose information on the case.
Authorities in El Salvador issued an arrest warrant for Rivera-Batres two years ago accusing him of terrorism and murder. Shortly after, The International Criminal Police Organization -- also known as INTERPOL -- issued a “Red Notice” for his arrest that called for his arrest and extradition, officials said.
“The allegations in this case are extremely disturbing,” wrote Caridad Cephas-Kimbrough, acting field office regional director for ICE’s Enforcement and Removal Operations, in a news release. “But it’s reassuring to know this individual will now be held to answer for his crimes.”
“(Homeland Security Investigations) remains committed to identifying, investigating and arresting individuals who pose a serious public safety threat to our communities,” wrote Francisco Burrola, special agent in charge for the HSI’s Las Vegas office, in the news release. “By working together with our law enforcement partners, we will ensure those individuals hiding from their home country, will not find refuge here.”
Rivera-Batres was previously convicted for illegally crossing into the U.S. after he was nabbed by immigration authorities in June 2018 and ordered deported, but was released on bond, officials said. It wasn’t clear if he was kicked out after that.
MS-13 is a transnational gang founded in Los Angeles in the late 1970s, but mostly operates in El Salvador, its “spiritual birthplace,” and other Central American countries, according to a report compiled by the Justice Department, which tallied between 50,000 and 70,000 members.
The gang doesn’t have centralized leadership, and most decisions are made by regionalized “cliques,” the report said. However, it also has a presence in the East Coast where directives are handed out by leaders in El Salvador.
