They are accused of contacting and calling the victims to hold meetings to coordinate the alleged sale of heavy machinery, also of holding them prisoners, and making financial demands on their families for a release that never took place.
The Attorney General’s Office successfully prosecuted six alleged members of the ELN’s Domingo Laín Sáenz front and two teenagers allegedly involved in the kidnapping and subsequent murder of two merchants in Tame (Arauca), in facts that occurred between November 15 and 24, 2024.
The evidence revealed that through false sale offers of heavy machinery published in social networks, the armed group contacted the victims and persuaded them to travel from Valledupar (Cesar) to Tame to close the deal.
Upon arriving at the rural area of Mapoy, which was the agreed area to meet with the alleged sellers, both men were held against their will, and one of them was forced to call his relatives to ask for a deposit of 60 million COP into two bank accounts to cover the cost of the purchased machinery.
Subsequently, an ELN ringleader contacted the families of the two merchants and demanded 100 million COP for their release; however, they were murdered, and their bodies abandoned in a rural area where they were found by the authorities on November 24, 2024.
Therefore, a prosecutor appointed to the branch office in Arauca (Seccional Arauca) charged six of the people allegedly involved in the commission of kidnapping for ransom, homicide, aggravated theft, and criminal conspiracy (all aggravated offenses). A judge sent them to prison.
The decision involved: Shirley Patricia Contreras Guzmán, alias Chuky; Yeimi Tatiana Soler, alias Madrina; Natalia Moreno Cuéllar alias Chiqui; Jaisver Rojas Medina, Jhon Alexi Díaz Chaparro, alias JJ; and Nelson Eduardo Díaz Chaparro, alias Motosierra.
The minors were charged with the same offenses by a prosecutor in Tame and were sent to a preventive detention center.
The Technical Investigation Unit (CTI), with support of Gaula of Army and Gaula of National Police, arrested the six defendants and detained both teenagers in investigations conducted in Bogotá, Cali (Valle del Cauca), Arauca and Tame (Arauca), and Suaita (Santander).
The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.
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.