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The police in Colombia have arrested the alleged main suspect at the murder of 13 kidnapped workers in a gold mine in the neighboring Peru.
Miguel Antonio Rodríguez Díaz, whose alias “Cuchillo” (MES) is, was arrested in the city of Medellin in a joint operation between the two countries and Interpol, according to the Ministry of the Interior and the Colombian police of Peru.
The bodies of the miners were found on 4 May from a tunnel in a mine in the Pataz district of Peru.
A lawyer for Mr Diaz has denied his involvement in the murders.
Peru is one of the largest gold producers in Latin -America and has seen an increase in violence from illegal miners and organized criminal gangs.
The 13 men killed in Pataz were sent to confront a group that had attacked and occupied the mine, but was ambushed and seized when they tried to regain control of it, the Peruvian authorities said.
Mr Diaz is suspected of steering the mine entrance, with the aim of stealing gold extracted by miners, Peru’s Ministry of the Interior said in a statement.
He is accused of “organized crime, worsened kidnapping and worsened murder,” it added.
A video posted by the authorities showed him to hold on to the armed police in a busy area in the center of Medellin.
Colombian police chief Carlos Triana said that Mr Diaz had settled with the support of the American immigration and customs enforcement agency and was subject to an Interpol red notification.
Peru’s interior ministry Said they expected Mr Diaz to be extradited to Peru in the coming days.
La Poderosa, that the my ownership where the murders took place, said earlier that 39 people with ties with the company were killed in total by criminal gangs in Pataz.
This most recent attack led Peru’s President Dina Boluarte to impose a nightly evening clock in Pataz and to suspend mining activities for a month. Extra police and soldiers were also sent to the region.
