The TBI says the Venezuelan Train de Aragua gang is in Tennessee. What do we know?

The Tennessee Bureau of Investigation is warning residents about the existence of a violent Venezuelan street gang called the Tren de Aragua.

TBI Director David Rausch said intelligence the agency has gathered indicates the gang is in Tennessee, where the gang is believed to have gone after past arrests.

“I don’t think we’re at the point where everyone is going to have to watch this infiltration from outside their homes,” Rausch said in the video posted on the department’s website. YouTube page. “The fact that this group is active is a concern for the police. They are in Tennessee.”

The goal is to stop the gang in its tracks, Rausch said, to prevent the criminal organization from expanding before it escalates into a turf war against drug cartels for control of drug trafficking in Tennessee.

There are no reports of the gang operating in Nashville or surrounding Middle Tennessee counties.

The Metro Nashville Police Department and Franklin Police say no arrests have been reported for Tren de Aragua members.

“This police department is well aware of Tren de Aragua and the criminal activity associated with its members. We have a high awareness of any such activity seen here,” MNPD said in an emailed statement.

The gang is not unique to Tennessee, Rausch said. He said the gang has a national presence and is quickly becoming a national problem.

In September, rumors spread that Tren de Aragua operated an apartment complex in Aurora, Colorado. Department of Homeland Security confirmed to NewsNation It turned out that the men seen in the video were members of the Venezuelan gang.

In a post on XThe city, formerly known as Twitter, confirmed “a small presence of the Tren de Aragua gang in Aurora.”

President-elect Donald Trump Claims made during an Oct. 11 rally in Aurora that the city had become a “war zone” overrun by violent Venezuelan gang members have been repeatedly debunked.

Tennessee is no stranger to human trafficking.

In November 2010, 29 individuals were indicted following a multi-agency investigation into a Somali gang in the Middle District of Tennessee.

By 2021, Governor Bill Lee and Tennessee lawmakers were dedicating additional resources and work hours to prevent human trafficking, with a total of nine representatives assigned to each TBI district.

Tennessee has seen an increase in human trafficking calls and reports; This number, which was 245 in 2016, is expected to be 1,375 in 2023.

Most of the 2023 tips (361) came from the state’s Central District. There were 307 in the Upper East Region, 265 in the West and 183 in the Eastern Region. Data shows that the most popular form of human trafficking in Tennessee involves minors. According to the 2023 report, 101 people were arrested as a result of various police operations.

“Most law enforcement and police officers have not seen what we know is there, and that is because of the complexity of intelligence gathering,” Rausch said. “We at TBI are the leading agency on human trafficking in the state of Tennessee, so many of our operations deal with these types of individuals.”

Rausch also noted that the group used violence against police.

USA TODAY contributed to this story.

Reach reporter Craig Shoup by email at [email protected] and X @Craig_Shoup. To support his work, sign up for a digital subscription at www.tennessean.com.

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