This is the dramatic moment the man accused of ordering and masterminding the brutal torture and murder of three women live-streamed on social media is arrested after going on the run.
Baby-faced Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, 20, was hauled out of the back of a lorry he was hiding in after fleeing Buenos Aires in the wake of the horrific crimes and managing to get across the border to his native Peru.
Morena Verri and Brenda del Castillo, both 20, and Lara Gutiérrez, 15, disappeared on Friday after they were lured into a van with the promise of a party, according to Argentine authorities.
Their dismembered remains were found on Wednesday buried in the backyard of a home about 16 miles from Buenos Aires after police tracked their cellphones.
Officers believe the women were taken to a house and accused of stealing drugs before they were brutally tortured and killed on camera.
Lara is said to have had all five fingers on her left hand amputated before her captors ended her life.
Brenda Del Castillo had a skull fracture and her stomach had been cut open after she was killed.
Baby-faced Tony Janzen Valverde Victoriano, 20, was hauled out of the back of a lorry he was hiding in after fleeing Buenos Aires in the wake of the horrific crimes
Peruvian police released footage of an officer ordering Argentina’s most wanted man, nicknamed Pequeno J or ‘Little J in English, to tell them his name and his nationality
Lara Gutierrez, 15, had the five fingers on her left hand and one ear cut off before she was killed
Morena is understood to have asphyxiated with a plastic bag found pulled over her head.
Buenos Aires officials said last Wednesday after the bodies of the victims were found at a rundown ‘House of Horrors’ in Florencio Varela they believed around 45 people watched them being tortured and murdered on a closed Instagram live-stream.
The women were tricked into going to the house where they were killed on the promise of a £220 payment each for attending a party there.
Chilling video footage showed them getting into a vehicle that took them to the property on a roundabout near their homes a 20-minute drive away the last time they were seen alive.
Peruvian police released footage of an officer ordering Argentina’s most wanted man, nicknamed Pequeno J or ‘Little J in English, to tell them his name and his nationality.
The truck the alleged narco had been smuggled into was caught up in a road blockade organised by protesting local fishermen on the Pan-American Highway south of the Peruvian capital Lima.
Hours earlier another fugitive described as ‘Little J’s’ alleged right-hand man, and named as Matias Agustin Ozorio, was arrested in Lima.
Brenda del Castillo, 20, was stabbed to death before her abdomen was cut open, officials said
Morena Verri, 20, was one of the victims found dismembered and buried in the backyard of a home in a Buenos Aires suburb
Argentina’s Minister of National Security Patricia Bullrich reacted to news of the capture on social media alongside a photo she posted of ‘Little J’ appearing to smirk as his hands were cuffed behind his back.
She wrote: ‘I want to congratulate Peru’s National Police for the great work they’ve done and their co-operation in the capture of the two fugitives for the triple murders.
‘Anti-drugs officers held ‘Little J’ in Pucusana, showing that when working decisively and in coordination, criminals have nowhere to hide.’
‘Anti-drugs officers held ‘Little J’ in Pucusana, showing that when working decisively and in coordination, criminals have nowhere to hide.’ She finished her message by writing: ‘You reap what you sow.’
As the first reports came out identifying ‘Little J’ as the alleged mastermind of the brutal crimes police feared he had fled Argentina for his homeland.
Buenos Aires’ Security Minister Javier Alonso confirmed: ‘The entire murder and torture session was broadcast live on social media and was apparently viewed by 45 people who follow that Instagram account.’
The truck the alleged narco had been smuggled into was caught up in a road blockade organised by protesting local fishermen on the Pan-American Highway south of the Peruvian capital Lima
Three Argentinian women were tortured and killed on a livestream after they were lured into a van on Friday near Buenos Aires
It is alleged the drug trafficker was trying to send a message to others with the broadcast of the killings.
During the broadcast, someone was heard saying: ‘This is what happens to anyone who steals drugs from me.’
Peruvian anti-drugs police chief Zenon Loayza said as he announced the arrest of Argentina’s most wanted man and his suspected accomplice: ‘The motive for the assassination of the three women was the theft of approximately three kilos of cocaine one of them had allegedly taken from the leader of the organisation.’
His comments echoed those of Argentinian counterparts in the wake of the murders, who referred initially to around four kilos of cocaine being taken.
Mr Alonso said of the social media live-streaming of the crimes: ‘It is relevant to the motive for the murders, which is that the leader of the gang is saying: ‘This is what happens to you if you steal drugs from me.’
Speaking after the bodies of the three young women were found he added: ‘They were last seen getting into a vehicle voluntarily because they had been invited to an event, not knowing they were falling into a trap set for them by an international drugs trafficking gang which had hatched a plan to kill them.
‘The families of the victims have been informed. The bodies were found in the early hours of Wednesday morning (September 24) buried in a garden.
‘The drugs trafficking organisation has its operational command in Buenos Aires and they had chosen this house to carry out the murders.
‘Four people have so far been arrested. The vehicle the girls were picked up in was located 100 metres from the house. It had been set alight and was burnt out.
‘We are convinced the victims were killed on Friday September 19 between 11pm and midnight.
‘Our investigation to apprehend the intellectual and material authors is very advanced.’
The regional government minister went on to dub the murders ‘a narco act of revenge.’
Buenos Aires prosecutors have described the crimes by saying: ‘This is the most sordid and horrifying case we have ever had to deal with.’
The two alleged gang leaders held in Peru now face extradition to Argentina.
Speaking to journalists who confronted him soon after his arrest as he was taken to a police station, ‘Little J’, the son of a murdered drug trafficker, insisted: ‘I haven’t killed anyone.
‘The guilty person has to be found. I didn’t have anything to do with this.’
In a statement after the arrests, a spokesman for Peru’s National Police said: ‘In a swift and simultaneous operation, agents from the Anti-Drug Directorate, in coordination with Interpol Argentina, arrested alias ‘Little J’ and Matias Agustin Ozorio, both fugitives from Argentina with red notices issued by Interpol and implicated in a triple murder in Buenos Aires.
‘The case involves three young women murdered in violent circumstances.
‘Tony Valverde, a Peruvian citizen, is believed to be linked to international drug trafficking networks and is identified as the alleged mastermind behind the crime, while authorities coordinate his transfer to Argentine justice.
More than half a dozen other suspects have already been held over the triple murders in Argentina.
Two were women caught cleaning the ‘horror house’ where the killings occurred with bleach when it was raided by police.
