The coordinated work between the Attorney General’s Office and the Gaula of the National Police made it possible to prosecute nine alleged members of ‘Los Buscadores’, a criminal organization responsible for multiple acts of violence in Boyacá and Meta.
The defendants, apparently, took advantage of the profiles that citizens published on social networks that offered services such as hauling, food sales or ornamentation work, among others.
Once in the agreed places, the victims were diverted from their route and restricting their freedom by carrying firearms and bladed weapons, they were taken to uninhabited and wooded areas, where they were detained and tied up; there, they contacted their relatives to demand large sums of money under death threats to obtain their release.
According to the Prosecutor’s Office, the possible person responsible for coordinating the criminal acts and the demands for money would be Róbinson Mauricio Rodríguez, alias “Cachetes”, who on the date of the events was deprived of his liberty in the El Barne prison in Cómbita (Boyacá). , for his participation in an attack against two police officers in Yopal (Casanare).
The Prosecutor’s Office has in its possession nine complaints that would link the defendants to crimes committed in the village of Toquilla (Aquitania), as well as the municipalities of Santa Rosa de Viterbo, Iza, Duitama and Chivatá in Boyacá; and in Granada in Meta.
The captures of the accused were carried out in Sogamoso and Tunja (Boyacá), Yopal (Casanare); and Flanders (Tolima). The Prosecutor’s Office charged them, according to their participation, with the crimes of aggravated conspiracy to commit a crime, aggravated kidnapping for extortion, aggravated extortion and simple kidnapping. All must comply with the custodial measures.
Facts denounced:
One of the events that is documented in the process occurred on March 21, 2023, when a citizen was contacted to carry out some ornamentation work in Granada (Meta). Upon arrival he was detained and physically assaulted. For his freedom, his family paid the sum of 12 million pesos.
Another similar case occurred in the Páramo La Chorrera in the township of Toquilla (Boyacá), where a man was detained after being contacted for a false haulage. For his freedom, his family paid the sum of $8 million pesos.
Source: Attorney General’s Office