Venezuelan gangster with million-dollar bounty killed, authorities say

CARACAS (Reuters) – A man accused of leading a prominent drug-running ring has been killed by authorities in northeastern Venezuela, the country’s interior minister said on Friday.

Carlos Enrique Gomez Rodriguez, also known as “El Conejo” or “The Rabbit,” was wanted for a string of crimes, leading police to offer $1 million for information related to his whereabouts last month.

Gomez was killed Thursday in the town of Irapa, in Sucre state, Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos said in a brief broadcast on state television.

Authorities had been tracking him for months, Ceballos added, but did not indicate whether a tipster had led them to Gomez.

Gomez is accused of having led a gang which trafficked drugs and weapons in the central state of Aragua, and was wanted on charges of terrorism, extortion, kidnapping and homicide.

Authorities say Gomez’s gang had recently attacked police and the National Guard in Aragua.

(Reporting by Vivian Sequera; Writing by Kylie Madry; Editing by Richard Chang)