A police operation in the northwestern Colombian municipality of Corinto (Cauca) resulted in the arrest of a suspected leader of the FARC.
According to authorities, Edwin Elias Secue Viscue, alias ‘Kafir’, was captured by security agencies who believed him to be commander of the FARC mobile column ‘Jacobo Arenas Alape’.
He is accused of conducting the forced recruitment of minors into his militia as well as commanding various gangs responsible for violence against security forces in northern Colombia over the past twelve years.
‘Kafir’ will also be investigated for his alleged involvement in the attack on the Agricultural Bank in the northwestern town of Caloto, as well as continued harrassment of the medical mission and surrounding population of Toribio Cauca.
Upon capturing ‘Kafir’, military forces found the guerrilla in possession of hand grenades, ammunition, military uniforms and a false military licence.
The Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) are considered a ‘terrorist’ guerrilla faction, associated with the long-standing violent conflict between the drug cartels, paramilitary divisions, leftist guerrillas and national security forces in Colombia that has been raging since approximately 1964.