The criminals who demanded 3 billion pesos to free the victims, were posing as members of the Mexican cartel ‘Los Zetas’.
Citizens reported that they were gagged, tied, beaten and intimidated.
Thanks to the pressure exerted by troops of the Military Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group) - Cundinamarca, attached to Brigade 13 of the National Army, with the support of the Technical Investigation Corps of the Attorney General's Office, two merchants were released in the municipality of Soacha; they had been kidnapped last July 22, in the morning.
In less than 24 hours, the Unified operation Group for Personal Freedom, reunited the two citizens with their family, after their kidnapping, when they were on they to their work; the victims said they were menaced, tied up, gagged, beaten and intimidated.
The criminals claimed to be members of ‘Los Zetas’, they demanded from the relatives three billion pesos; immediately the brother of one of the victims denounced the crime to the Military Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group). Immediately, planning was carried out with the intelligence unit and the movement to Soacha began, where the kidnapping took place.
The rapid reaction of the Anti-kidnapping and Anti-Extortion unit, with sophisticated communication search equipment, led to track the whereabouts of the kidnapped people, meanwhile criminals continued to exert pressure, through multiple calls, on family members and in view of not quickly achieving their goal, they made a new demand for 500 million pesos, which had to be paid before half an hour to not to attack on the lives of their victims.
However, after detecting the military pressure, the kidnappers left the two citizens free and began to flee.
The Brigade 13 command exalts the behavior of the citizens who decided to denounce, facilitating the work of the authorities and thus preventing these criminal groups from nourishing their finances through crimes such as kidnapping and extortion. It also reiterates the call to all the citizens to report actions like these in the national free line 147 of the Military Gaula (Anti-Extortion and Anti-Kidnapping Group).
Source: National Army
