Drug traffickers linked to Pablo Escobar launch academy to teach school kids how to become professional criminals
Boys as young as ten taught to use guns and girls forced into prostitution, shocked police say after busting hideout in Colombia
A GANG of drug traffickers linked to Pablo Escobar organised an academy to teach schoolkids how to become professional criminals, shocked police found in Colombia.
Ringleaders would travel to poor families with large numbers of children and arranged for both boys and girls to be then taken away to their hideout.
The boys were taught how to fight and use weapons, while the girls were forced into prostitution, according to reports.
The Gulf Clan that organised the Academy is a paramilitary drug trafficking organisation founded in the late 90s by members of Pablo Escobar’s notorious Medellin Cartel.
Considered to be the biggest criminal network in the country and probably the biggest drug provider, the group operates throughout Colombia and was believed to have over 2,300 members in 2013.
Authorities were shocked to discover the school, including pictures of the young pupils, in an operation that led to the capture of kingpin Jairo Gil - known as Patilla.
Police said that the school is located in the northern region of Uriba and was set up with the objective of training professional career criminals.
Several photos of a boy practising how to hold a gun were among the documentation seized.
The child believed to be around the age of ten has a small imitation gun made of iron and can be seen wearing a Che Guevara cap.
Jairo Gil and cartel leader Dairo Antonio Usuga David - aka Otoniel - had also bought in girls as young as 14, according to authorities.
But they were not taught in the school, and instead were reportedly used for sex.
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A police representative told local media: "They tried to force the kids into a situation where they grew up knowing their role.
"They would pay 4 to 5 million pesos (£1,100 to £1,400) for underage girls to be brought to them.
"If they liked the girl, sometimes they would pay up to 30 million pesos (£8,400) so that they could have them and use them for sexual satisfaction."
The scandal came to light after a recent failed attempt by government forces to catch Usuga David, during which his security chief Jairo Gil got an eye wound.
The injury was so serious that he was forced to leave the mountain hideout to travel to a hospital using a fake identity. Police however discovered the plan and captured him.
For the moment Usuga David is meanwhile still believed to be hiding in the mountains of northern Colombia.
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