A new scandal once again puts the image of the Colombian security forces on trial. This Tuesday, July 6, it was learned that in Bogotá, a colonel and five non-commissioned officers attached to the National Police Traffic Directorate, were captured for the crimes of simple kidnapping, aggravated torture and conspiracy to commit a crime.

It was indicated that the uniformed men involved are Lieutenant Colonel Gavino Humberto Gamboa Correa, head of the Judicial Investigation Section (Sijín) of the Police Traffic Directorate; the mayor Johnatan Giraldo Aguilar, the deputy ministers Jhon Fredy Velandia Mesa and Sandra Liliana Martínez Chacón, and the patrolmen William Eduardo Pérez Roncancio and Juan Diego Gañán Castaño.

Likewise, it was revealed that the events that incriminate these six people would have occurred on Thursday, April 29.

“The Police, in joint work with the accusing entity, was in charge of carrying out the respective investigations and the capture procedure. Additionally, to the criminal process, headed by the Prosecutor’s Office, which will determine the degree of responsibility of the uniformed men, the Police opened the corresponding disciplinary investigations to clarify what happened,” said Major General Juan Alberto Libreros Morales, Director of Transit and Transportation of the National Police.

According to the authorities, the indicated uniformed men had carried out a search with a fraudulent warrant and had illegally detained a citizen. Preliminary data indicate that Lieutenant Colonel Gamboa was the one who led this action, which violates Police guidelines, apparently in the form of revenge.

The investigation, led by the Attorney General’s Office and the Unified Action Groups for Personal Freedom (Gaula) of the Police, indicated that everything began in mid-April, when criminals entered Gamboa’s house and stole several belongings of value.

Subsequently, the lieutenant managed to identify those responsible and decided to go with five of his subordinates to do justice on his own, without taking into account that the situation would become known and all the uniformed men would be prosecuted for abusing their power.

“The events for which they are being investigated would have occurred on April 29, apparently derived from an alleged theft committed by a private individual at the residence of one of the detained uniformed men,” said Major General Libreros.

Apparently, in the middle of the search and illegal detention of the citizen who allegedly robbed the lieutenant, this person managed to escape and went to the nearest CAI.

There, the man denounced the lieutenant and the uniformed men who registered the case reported it to the National Police Traffic Directorate, to which those captured today belong, and the corresponding actions were taken.

Now, the six are in the Immediate Reaction Unit (URI) of Puente Aranda, in the western center of Bogotá. There they will have to wait until they are brought before a judge of control of guarantees of the judicial complex of Paloquemao so that he appears of the case and imputes charges to them.

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