Thanks to the quick reaction of the troops, it was possible to rescue a rancher who had been kidnapped for about 8 hours, and the kidnappers were arrested, two handguns and the vehicle they were traveling in were found by troops.
Within the framework of military operations, aligned to the Ayacucho campaign plan, Colombian National Army with troops of the Combat Engineer Battalion No.28, of the Twenty-Eighth Brigade, jointly with the Colombian Navy, the Colombian Aerospace Force, coordinated with the National Police and inter-institutional with the CTI (Technical Investigations Corps) of the Attorney General's Office, and coordinated with the Military Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group) of Casanare received information about an inhabitant of the municipality of Nunchía, Casanare, who was kidnapped in his own farm, therefore, the operations deployment was activated immediately to find the whereabouts of the citizen and his possible kidnappers, apparently members of the residual organized armed group Structure 39.
Thanks to intelligence information and the civic participation network, it was learned that the kidnapped civilian was a rancher of the Llanera region, who was abducted in a hostile manner by three hooded men with handguns, who arrived at his farm and took him by force in a van, to transport him through the south of the department of Casanare towards the department of Meta and Vichada.
As part of the operation, it was learned that they would have the kidnapped person in a house in a rural area of the municipality of Puerto Gaitán, Meta, where soldiers of the Combat Engineer Battalion No. 28 arrived and found the victim. There, two of the three men who had allegedly kidnapped him were arrested, and the third kidnapper fled the scene when he noticed the soldiers' existence; the troops are continuing to conduct the operation to find out his whereabouts.
The arrested were transported by a helicopter of the Colombian Aerospace Force to the municipality of Santa Rosalía, Vichada, leaving them together with two 9 mm pistol-type handguns that the individuals were carrying at the moment and were put into custody of the authority, where at this time the process of prosecution and legalization of arrest is being conducted.
In the same way, at the moment of liberation, the soldiers provided first aid to the rescued. He was later taken to a medical center and was assisted by specialized personnel.
For its part, the Military Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group) Casanare conducts the procedures of recovery of the vehicle owned by the citizen, which was abandoned on a rural road in the municipality of Orocué, Casanare; a motorcycle on which the kidnappers would have been transported was abandoned there, so it is in the same way found and put into custody of the authority.
Source: Press - Eighth Division of Colombian National Army
