A judge sentenced a man to 41 years in prison for participating in the kidnapping, torture and disappearance of two people in the department of Chocó in events that occurred in January 2023, the Prosecutor’s Office reported on Saturday.
Fabio Andrés Garcés, aka ‘Pica’ or ‘Picapiedra’, was found “Responsible for illegal retention, torture and subsequent disappearance of two men on January 7, 2023, in Quibdó”, the departmental capital, said the Prosecutor’s Office in a statement.
The victims, from which their identity was not supplied, traveled from Cali, capital of the department of Valle del Cauca, Chocó to attend an alleged job offer in a mine and there were illegally retained, added the information.
“Upon arriving at the place agreed with the possible employers, they were addressed by three people who presented themselves as members of the criminal organization ‘Los Caparros’ and took them against their will,” said the Prosecutor’s Office.
Subsequently, they were subjected to cruel and denigrating treatment, intimidated with firearms, beaten and their missing bodies without having been located to date, said the information.
However, the aggressors called the relatives and demanded 60 million pesos (almost 14,000 dollars today) for a release that would not come.
In the course of the investigation it was established that alias ‘Picapiedra’, who was held in the Popayán prison, capital of the department of Cauca (southwest), “coordinated and made the extortion calls to the family,” said the Prosecutor’s Office.
After being notified that he was criminally linked to this case, he accepted the crimes of extortion kidnapping, forced disappearance and torture.
In this way, he received an early sentence and will continue in a prison in Valledupar (Norte), to which he was transferred for his danger.
/Wradio
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