Fredy “Caracho” Ricardo Santos Ramirez, the financial leader of the neo-paramilitary criminal group ERPAC, is captured by Colombia’s police, reports W Radio.
Caracho was detained in the city of Villavicencio in the central Colombian Meta department.
Lopez Montero joined ERPAC, the Colombian Revolutionary Popular Anti-Terrorist Army, in 2004 and has since been instrumental in supplying resources to enable their drug trafficking operations.
In December 2010, the leader of ERPAC, Pedro Oliveiro Guerrero, alias “Cuchillo,” was killed by security officials. He was one of Colombia’s most-wanted drug lords and an ex-member of demobilized paramilitary organization, the AUC.
After Cuchillo’s death, El Pais reported that Caracho or the leader of the armed wing of ERPAC, German Ramierez Devia, would assume control of the organization. However, in the time since the death, neither are known to have taken control.
A statement from the head of the Colombian judicial police (DIJIN) on Caracho’s arrest is expected later Monday.