A raid south of Colombia’s capital has killed a FARC guerrilla in charge of extorting money from Bogota bars and nightclubs, said authorities Monday.
The Colombian military said they killed the FARC extortionist known as “Franklin Pipas” along with one other guerrilla in a raid on the camp of a FARC finance committee in the central Meta department over the weekend.
Pipas, who the police identified as Hector Lombo Quiceño, was the alleged chief finance officer for the FARC’s 27th Front and is said to have ordered kidnappings and bombings against Bogota entertainment venues that failed to pay extortion money.
This weekend’s attack is part of a broader assault by the army against the FARC’s 27th Front, an important fundraising group for the guerrillas which operates in Bogota and departments south of the capital.
The police say Pipas was also responsible for ordering a taxi bombing that took place in August, killing six people including two children. It is thought the taxi bomb was intended to hit a military checkpoint but instead exploded in a marketplace.
The raid on the camp was made possible by intelligence gathered when a recent arrest by police uncovered a document listing 60 establishments in Bogota subject to extortion by the FARC.