Police in central Colombia have arrested four alleged members of the demobilized faction of neo-paramilitary group ERPAC, bringing the total number detained to ten, with 257 still at large.
The four suspects were arrested in the towns of Acacias and Granada in the Meta department — the same area where 284 alleged members of ERPAC demobilized in December. Following the demobilization, 267 of the militants were surprisingly sent home as judicial authorities said there were no grounds to detain them.
Following a storm of criticism, prosecutors charged all the released neo-paramilitary suspects with conspiracy and ordered their arrest. Since then, 10 have been arrested.
ERPAC is one of the groups created by former members of the AUC, Colombia’s former leading paramilitary organization, which officially demobilized between 2003 and 2006. It was formed by a paramiltary alias “Cuchillo,” who was killed by security forces in December 2010.