Gun cops arrest heavily tattooed members of El Salvador’s brutal 18th Street Gang – one of the world’s most feared crime cartels
HEAVILY tattooed members of the bloodthirsty 18th Street Gang are paraded for the cameras after being arrested by armed cops in El Salvador.
Their body inkings display their loyalty to the murderous crime gang, whose thousands of members stretch from Central America through the US and as far as Canada.
The gang members were held yesterday in Puerto El Triunfo on charges of trafficking and robbery.
They were handcuffed as gun-toting officers wearing balaclavas to protect their identity paraded them for newspaper and TV cameras before they were led away in police vehicles.
Cops in El Salvador - one of the world's most dangerous countries - face a daunting task trying to tackle the warring gangs who each control entire city neighbourhoods.
Last month police celebrated the first day with no murders for more than two years. Normally around ten people a day are killed.
The 18th Street Gang - also known as Barrio 18 - began in Los Angeles in the 1980s but spread to Mexico and Central America after hundreds of its members were deported from the US.
Barrio 18 and rival clan MS13 have carved up almost all crime in El Salvador, Guatemala and Honduras and rule their territory with savagery, extortion and rape.
Barrio 18's main income is from the drugs trade and petty crime but they have also been linked to human trafficking, kidnapping and international arms dealing.
The gang's branch in Honduras was responsible for kidnapping the 14-year-old brother of Spurs footballer Wilson Palacios in 2007.
The body of Edwin Palacios was recovered two years later after two gang members confessed.
Of the two gangs, MS13 is said to be more "sophisticated" - merely shooting people - while Barrio 18 is renowned for torturing and dismembering their victims.
To earn the respect of other members, new recruits must survive a brutal 18-second beating by other members, who will pile in on newcomers in an attempt to savage them as much as possible before the time is up.
To maintain control, gang members extort money at gunpoint, rape women and girls, and force children to join their ranks, according to the UN refugee agency UNHCR.
Rising gang violence in El Salvador, Honduras and Guatemala has made them among the world's deadliest countries outside a war zone in terms of murder rates.
The bloodshed has prompted a refugee crisis as hundreds of thousands of people flee to Mexico.
Paola Bolognesi of the UNHCR said last year: "People don't have an option but to flee criminal gangs who exert very strong pressure on communities. We are seeing entire families of up to 20 people fleeing to save their lives."
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