BOGOTA – A 17-year-old girl who was in charge of a group of hitmen has been arrested in Colombia, the Medellin police department said.

The unidentified girl, who is accused of several murders, had escaped from jail last Friday.

The teenager, who is known on the streets as “La Perris,” apparently belongs to the El Tablazo gang, which “provides services” to Oficina de Envigado drug gang boss Erick Vargas Cardenas, Medellin police chief Gen. Yesid Vasquez said.

The girl was arrested Saturday night during a gang shootout in the La Tablaza section of Itagui, a city near Medellin, the capital of the northwestern province of Antioquia, Vasquez said.

“There were four people ... shooting, and ‘La Perris’ was among them again. She was taken to the station and after checking with the Colombian Family Welfare Institute (Icbf), they took her from us that same night to at least try to save her, because the goal of the Calatrava (gang) is to kill her,” the police chief said.

The teenager was arrested on July 22 and taken to a special facility for juvenile delinquents.

The girl has worked for Vargas Cardenas, one of the most-wanted men in Medellin and one of the top leaders of the Oficina de Envigado gang, for about three years, police said.

The Oficina de Envigado’s leaders have included Diego Fernando Murillo, known as “Don Berna,” a powerful drug kingpin and warlord extradited to the United States in May 2008 along with 13 other leaders of the defunct United Self-Defense Forces of Colombia, or AUC, militia federation.

The gang smuggles cocaine and runs various rackets, including extortion of businesses and transportation companies, in Antioquia province. EFE