Blow to FARC dissidents in the department of Arauca: Gordo Hector captured

Authorities confirmed that a joint operation between the Attorney General's Office, the Police and the National Army succeeded in the capture of Elkin Garrido aka 'Gordo Héctor', who is the second leader of the tenth structure of the FARC dissidents that commit crimes in the Venezuelan border area.

According to them, 'Gordo Héctor' intended to attack the police command and the bunker of the Prosecutor's Office in the department of Aracua. This criminal, who had 12 men in his charge, would have been in the narco-terrorist criminal structure for more than eight years and would be under the control of alias 'Ferley Gonzalez'.

The prisoner from whom three cell phones were seized would be responsible for kidnappings, extortion, damage to public roads, theft, threats, homicides and matters of terrorist propaganda. Elkin Garrido aka 'Gordo Hector', is at the disposal of the authorities.

The FARC dissidents have recently attacked facilities of the Public Force, one of those cases was in a CAI in the city of Bogotá that left a tragic toll of two children dead. But another more recent one happened in the Military Canton of Tibu in Norte de Santander.

On April 3, an explosive device exploded near the Military Canton of Tibú, in Norte de Santander. According to the authorities, the attack was thwarted because a group of uniformed men together with an anti-explosive dog detected a suspicious man carrying a package. However, the explosion occurred injuring the subject who would be responsible for carrying the package to the battalion.

“At 9:50 in the morning a motorcycle taxi approaches and, in compliance with safety protocols, the driver is ordered to get out of the vehicle. At that time we sent a canine unit that detected the explosive,” said Brigadier General Fabio Leonardo Caro Cancelado, commander of the Norte de Santander Specific Command.

According to preliminary information, the subject who was injured was taken to an emergency unit where he is being treated and is in the custody of the authorities. In addition, intelligence pointed out that the explosive was intended to provoke an attack inside Cato and that such an event would be planned by FARC dissidents.

“Intelligence information tells us that this terrorist and insane action was carried out by the residual of the 33rd Front of the FARC,” commander Caro Cancelado said. He added: “We continue to carry out the security filters and protocols established in our Shield Plan, to continue to prevent these terrorists from complying with their objective”.

This is not the first attack against an institution in the municipality of Norte de Santande r, during the first month of 2022, the police station was hit by a cylinder bomb that was thrown at it, apparently, one of the armed dissidents of the extinct FARC guerrilla in that area of Catatumbo and in which groups outside the law disputes drug trafficking routes to Venezuela.

Caracol Radio reported that the unconventional device, also known as' tatuco ', was loaded with explosives, but the criminals who launched it failed and failed to reach its target, so the cylinder ended up in the back of the police headquarters.

On the radio, they reported that due to this fact, no civilians or uniforms were injured, but serious damage was done to the homes adjacent to the police station.

Meanwhile, in the newspaper La Opinión de Cúcuta, they indicated that the 'tatuco' fell 150 meters from the headquarters, apparently, the criminals had also tried to install another explosive device to attack the security forces.

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