Colombia to investigate ‘fake death’ of neo-paramilitary

A Colombian court will investigate if the alleged drug trafficker Comilo Torres, alias “Fritanga,” faked his own death, reported W Radio Friday morning.

According to Fritanga’s death certificate, he died of “natural causes” in Colombia’s capital Bogota in December 2010.

Fritanga, allegedly a prominent member of the neo-paramilitary drug trafficking group Los Urabeños, was detained Sunday at his own wedding on the island of Mucura just off Colombia’s Caribbean coast.

At the wedding Colombian police showed Fritanga a copy of his I.D. card as proof of life, after which the alleged Urabeños member said he had trouble recognizing himself as he had not used the I.D. for a few years.

The alleged drug trafficker had been wanted by U.S. authorities since 2009 and was accused by a local judge in Colombia’s northwestern Antioquia department of drug trafficking and conspiracy.

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