Police in the northeast department of Aracua have arrested three men for extorting money from local citizens by posing as members of the FARC, Colombian media reports.
According to local authorities, the group, known as “Los Boliches,” consisted of a man aged 61, alias “El Abuelo,” one aged 24, alias “Pequeño,” and a man of 23 years, known as “El Soldado.”
The men had told people that they were members of the FARC’s 10th Front and demanded payment of $106,000 not to harm local community members.
Commander of the Arauca Police Department, Colonel Guillermo Javier Guevara Meyer, told reporters, “Since last year we have been investigating and doing intelligence work in order to dismantle this criminal organization that had been creating a climate of fear and anxiety among the population.”
Operations against the men were able to begin thanks to the filing of a complaint by one of the group’s victims.