Retired police general Mauricio Santoyo Velasco handed himself over to U.S. authorities in the state of Virginia on Tuesday morning amid accusations of collaboration with the the AUC and Medellin-based crime syndicate Oficina de Envigado between 2000 and 2008.
After landing on U.S. soil the retired general was taken to a detention center where he will remain until Thursday, before appearing at the Eastern District Court of Virginia to answer to the allegations made against him.
Santoyo will also be assigned a permanent place of detention while the trial proceeds, after being denied bail because of the gravity of the accusations made against him.
El Espectador wrote that sources close to Santoyo report that the ex-police chief decided to cooperate because he wanted to enter into a collaborative process and negotiations with the U.S., as according to his lawyer an international warrant for his arrest was inevitable.