A prosecutor appointed to the Immediate Reaction Unit (Unidad de Reacción Inmediata URI) prosecuted John Alexander Taborda Orozco, 36; and Rubén Darío Ladeus Cardona, 42, for the crime of aggravated kidnapping for ransom. They did not plead guilty.
The facts took place on October 20 at the airport of Cartagena. The defendants, who were drivers for a transportation platform, accepted the service requested by a Hungarian citizen who was visiting the city.
During the journey, both men allegedly changed the route and asked the foreign citizen for the payment of one million COP. Since the victim only had 300 thousand pesos, it seems that they forced him to go to several ATMs to withdraw the remaining money. After going to different banks, the transaction was not successful, so the people involved allegedly got a card reader so that the foreigner could transfer the other 700 thousand.
After being released at the so-called Centro Historico, the foreigner citizen informed the authorities. Taborda Orozco and Ladeus Cardona were arrested by the National Police in Crespo neighborhood.
A judge imposed a prison sentence, which must be served in San Sebastián Ternera prison in Cartagena.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.