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El Salvador seeks trial of over 500 alleged gang leaders
The 563 alleged leaders of Barrio 18, which operates drug trafficking rings and extortion rackets, are accused of more than 14,000 crimes
- PUBLISHED: Sat 13 Jun 2026, 6:57 PM
- By:
- AFP
El Salvador has requested the trial of more than 500 suspected leaders of the powerful Central American gang Barrio 18, its public prosecutor's office said on Friday.
Salvadoran authorities are conducting mass trials of thousands of suspected gang members as part of iron-fisted President Nayib Bukele's anti-gang crackdown.
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The 563 alleged leaders of Barrio 18, which operates drug trafficking rings and extortion rackets, are accused of more than 14,000 crimes.
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They are all charged with "belonging to a terrorist organisation," deputy prosecutor for organised crime Max Munoz said in a post on X.
Other charges include homicide, extortion, arms trafficking, drug trafficking and human trafficking, he added.
The trial could begin as soon as August, Munoz said.
A mass trial of nearly 490 suspected members of rival gang Mara Salvatrucha (MS-13), accused of thousands of murders, began in April.
Salvadoran authorities accuse the group of a range of crimes, including the killing of 87 people in a single weekend in March 2022.
In the wake of the killings, Bukele declared a war on gangs and imposed a state of emergency, which has since been used to arrest more than 90,000 suspected gang members.
But rights groups have denounced gross human rights abuses including a lack of due process for those arrested.