The police captain who is a key witness in the investigation of a prostitution ring within Colombia’s National Police and was kidnapped on Saturday has been found alive, according to the institution.
Captain Anyelo Palacios was kidnapped in the northeastern Norte de Santander province months after his testimonies about the so-called “Community of the Ring” spured the resignation of the vice-Minister of the Interior and the director of the National Police.
However, while the investigation was only just beginning, unknown men kidnapped the police captain while he was driving through Pamplonita, a municipality in the northeastern Norte de Santander Province.
Key witness in Colombia’s police prostitution ring probe ‘kidnapped’
Around 1AM Sunday, the officer’s family received a phone call informing her that her son was found alive, but severely beaten up and suffering hypothermia, according to radio station La FM.
“It seems they have found my boy … he’s beaten, in a bad state, they told me,” mother Flor Alba Montero told the radio station.
According to the family, the police captain was found in Ragonvalia, a hamlet 15 miles northeast of where he was reported kidnapped and only a mile from the Venezuelan border.
It is unclear whether Palacios was able to escape his captors, or whether he was released or rescued.
The alleged kidnapping of Palacio is the latest embarrassment in a series of embarrassments haunting the National Police.
Palacio has been the prosecution’s key witness in the investigation of the alleged prostitution ring that allegedly catered to the sexual needs of top officials and congressmen.
A recording leaked by Palacio in which he was talking sex with then-senator Carlos Ferro spurred the politician to resign as Minister of the Interior.
General Rodolfo Palomino, who is also facing accusations of sexual harassment, subsequently resigned as chief commander of the the National Police.
Colombia’s police chief resigns amid piling claims of sexual misconduct
The leaking of the video to radio station La FM cost the job of Vicky Davila, one of the country’s most famous journalists.
Colombia’s prosecution has been investigating the alleged “Community of the Ring” that managed the sexual services of allegedly 300 cadets of Colombia’s biggest police academy, the General Santander school in Bogota.
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This investigation includes the alleged homicide of a female cadet who was killed, according to her family, just before she wanted to make the police prostitution practices public.
Colombia’s Defense Minister has admitted to the existence of the ring, but investigations into alleged sexual misconduct or harassment have proven difficult.