Colombia’s National Police on Sunday reportedly rescued an Ecuadorean woman and arrested two suspected kidnappers in the southwest of the country.
Police say the woman had been kidnapped on a street in Quito, Ecuador’s capital, as she was on his way to work on April, 13.
According to a police statement, the engineer, Yeni Alejandra Moreira Andrade, was freed in the city of Cali, the capital of Colombia’s Southern department of Valle de Cauca.
The police said they arrested one Colombian and one Ecuadorean national who were guarding the woman.
The father of the victim reportedly received phone calls from a stranger claiming to be a FARC guerrilla. The extortionist subsequently demanded $23,000 for the woman’s release.
The FARC have officially stopped kidnapping for extortion reasons last year. The majority of kidnappings in Colombia are carried out by common criminals. According to police, 34 kidnap victims have been rescued so far this year. Of the 251 arrested alleged perpetrators, 72% were common criminals, 17% belonged to the FARC, 8% to the ELN and 3% are neo-paramilitaries.
MORE: Colombia kidnapping statistics