The authorities carried out an operation in homes and prisons in Lima to disrupt the members of the criminal organization called ‘The Accounts of Fear’. One of the most striking captures was that of Víctor Eduardo Meza Escobar, accused of being one of the alleged ringleaders.
Meza Escobar was detained inside an apartment in a building located on Las Dalias Street, in Miraflores. As he was able to know The Commerce Through police sources, said subject allegedly received the money from the extortions in his account and then transferred it to other accounts. The authorities have determined that there would be a movement of more than one million soles.
A police source immersed in the investigation revealed this Thursday that Meza Escobar moved to Miraflores a few months ago to be near betting houses and casinos, which he used to receive extortion money.
Víctor Eduardo Meza Escobar is accused of being the leader of the gang. (Photos: César Grados / @photo.gec)
This is not the first time that Víctor Meza Escobar has been linked to criminal acts. In January 2025, the then Minister of the Interior, Juan José Santiváñez, accused him of leading a gang of extortionists that operated in San Juan de Lurigancho. Given this, Meza Escobar appeared in various media outlets to try to deny said information and alleged that he was a businessman who has owned an event promoter since 2022. Therefore, he announced at that time that he was going to sue Santiváñez.
However, he acknowledged that he was convicted in 2004 for a robbery case, but that, as he assured, he has already resocialized.
How did the gang operate and what scheme did they use to receive extortion money?
The criminal gang, faced with the Police’s tracking of the bank accounts and numbers of Yape or Plin, designed a new scheme. This consisted of opening memberships in casinos and gambling houses, which are linked to bank accounts, and that is where the victims had to deposit the money.
El Comercio learned that the criminal organization had been operating since 2023 and had managed to raise more than 9 million soles, according to calculations from the Financial Intelligence Unit. The transportation companies that were victims of extortion are El Rápido, Los Milagros del Señor de Pachacamilla, Turismo San Juanito, Unidad de Villa, Mártir José Olaya, Rumi, Luis Banchero Rossi and Etupsa.
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A police source indicated that ‘The accounts of fear’ required their victims to pay a “tuition” of 10 thousand soles and a biweekly payment of 8,500 soles. Furthermore, the band adopted different names depending on the area where it operated.
For this reason, the gang is accused of the crimes of criminal organization and extortion, and it is sought to determine if it is charged with money laundering.
The Police raided 20 properties in Lima to arrest the members of the gang ‘The Accounts of Fear’. (Photos: César Grados / @photo.gec)
Who was in the band?
The Police captured 18 members of the criminal organization during the raid on 20 homes in eight districts of Lima, such as Ancón, Carabayllo, Comas, San Juan de Lurigancho, Villa María del Triunfo, Cercado de Lima, Villa El Salvador and Rímac. Those arrested will serve 15 days of preliminary detention.
The gang was made up of four family clans that operated in Villa María del Triunfo and San Juan de Miraflores, and had a structure that included managers or administrators – who received the money directly and some of them are in Brazil and Spain – and collectors, who were in charge of distributing the money obtained through multiple bank transactions.
The members of the band were intervened during the early hours of Wednesday. (Photos: César Grados / @photo.gec)
Among those detained, in addition to Víctor Eduardo Meza Escobar, there is Hilary Juliana Polo GutiérrezMiriam Rocío Yactayo Ramos, Jonathan Anthony Castro Torres, Tracy Kimberly Poco Gutiérrez, Stefany Yanina Alfaro Machuca, Maritza Lourdes Llanque CoropunaElizabeth Llanque Coropuna, Doris Pujaico Estrada, Luis Alberto Galicia Mori, Piero Anthony Pachas Pantoja, Erika Llatas Goicochea, Kelly Sinjuña Chuan, Bruno Alonso Salazar Hernández, Roberto Carlos Luza Huillca, Wilmer Joel Huansi Salas, José Alfonso Quea Zeballos.
Víctor Meza Escobar and Hilary Polo Gutiérrez are considered the leaders of the criminal gang, while Maritza Lourdes Llanque Coropuna is accused of being the partner of the criminal Jesús José Manuel Gastañadui Tapia, alias ‘Pitbull’, a member of the ‘Los Trujillanos’ gang.
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Precisely, Police investigations have determined that ‘Pitbull’ is the cousin of Junior Wilfredo Huamaní Tapia, a subject who is suspected of shooting and killing two passengers and a driver on the line known as ‘Los Rojitos’, in San Juan de Miraflores.
The Police captured members of the gang ‘The Accounts of Fear’. (Photos: César Grados / @photo.gec)
Furthermore, another capture that has attracted attention is that of Luis Alberto Galicia Mori, who is a driver for a ‘Los Rojitos’ unit. He is accused of leaking to the criminal gang the number of drivers, as well as the names of those who refused to pay the quota and the economic movement of the transport company.
The Police also detained a member of the Army at the Chorrillos Military School, as he was part of the criminal organization. The authorities also raided two cells at the Chorrillos Women’s Prison, as well as a cell at the Lurigancho prison.
The intervention, carried out in various districts of Metropolitan Lima, allowed the arrest of 18 members of this criminal network, in compliance with a court order that authorized 22 preliminary arrests, 20 raids with unlocking and the search of three prison cells. The action was developed in coordination with the Specialized Prosecutor’s Office against Organized Crime (Fecoor).
The proceedings were carried out simultaneously in San Juan de Miraflores, Villa María del Triunfo, San Juan de Lurigancho, Ancón, Carabayllo, San Martín de Porres, Miraflores and Cercado de Lima, as well as in two cells in the Chorrillos prison and one in the Lurigancho prison, evidencing the high level of organization and reach of this criminal structure.
