Venezuelan authorities said Saturday that the notorious Tren de Aragua gang was dismantled after police took back a prison it controlled last week.

"We have total control of this prison" and "we have completely dismantled the self-proclaimed former Aragua Train," Minister of the Interior and Justice, Admiral Remigio Ceballos said Saturday.

However, the gang's leader remain at large after escaping during the siege of the Tocoron prison in the northern state of Aragua by more than 11,000 soldiers and police on Wednesday.

The prison gang leaders negotiated with authorities to leave the facility and "left the country a week ago," the Venezuelan Prison Observatory, a group that follows developments in the country's notoriously dangerous detention centers, said.

The OVV did not specify which countries the gang leaders went to, accusing authorities of "opacity."

The Tren de Aragua gang, which reportedly numbers some 5,000 criminals, emerged in 2014, specializing in classic mafia activities: Kidnapping, robberies, drugs, prostitution and extortion. It has extended its influence to other activities, some legal, but also to illegal gold mining.

The gang emerged in Venezuela and has put down roots in several other Latin American countries.

WITH AFP