Colombians arrest alledged kidnappers of oil workers in Ecuador

(23 Jun 2001) 1. Various of captured alleged kidnappers paraded before the press 2. Close up alleged kidnappers 3. Female alleged kidnapper crying 4. Pan of alleged kidnappers 5. Wide of news conference 6. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) Alfonso Gomez Mendez, Prosecutor-General: “Up until now fifty (50) people have been captured. Of those America has requested the extradition of four for kidnapping Americans.“ 7. Bundle of U-S dollars confiscated in police raid 8. SOUNDBITE: (Spanish) General Luis Ernesto Gilibert, Head of the Colombian Police: “At the moment we have captured 49 people. We have confiscated over a million dollars. (This money) after examination has been shown to form part of a ransom paid as for a kidnapping. We also have 226 million (m) Colombian pesos (113 thousand dollars).“ 9. Wide of news conference 10. Various of captured alleged kidnappers 11. Close up handcuffs 12. Alleged kidnappers being lead away STORY-LINE: Authorities in Colombia say they’ve arrested 57 alleged members of a gang that carried out last year’s kidnapping of a group of oil workers in Ecuador, in which an American hostage was killed. Fifty of the suspects were arrested in different parts of the country on Friday. The other seven are Ecuadoreans captured in their country. Colombia’s Police Chief identified the alleged ringleader as Gerardo Herrera, and said he is a former member of a small Colombian guerrilla faction known as the People’s Liberation Army, or E-P-L. The U-S government has asked Colombia to extradite four of the suspects on kidnapping charges. The group is believed to be responsible for at least eight separate kidnappings in Ecuador since 1990, mostly of foreign workers. At least 12 Americans have been abducted by the gang and police believe it’s the same one that held seven Canadians and an American for ransom for 100 days in late 1999 in Ecuador. In the latest case, ten foreign oil workers were kidnapped in October from an oil camp in the Pompeya jungle region of Ecuador, about 45 miles south of the border with Colombia. Two French captives escaped a few days later. At the end of January, amid tense and secret ransom negotiations, the body of one of the American hostages - 54 year old Ronald Sander, an employee of oil company Helmerich & Payne - was found on a jungle road. He had been shot five times in the back and was covered in a white sheet scrawled with the words “I am a gringo. For non-payment of ransom. HP company.“ The remaining seven hostages including four other Americans, a Chilean, an Argentine and a New Zealander were freed in March, reportedly after a 13 million (m) U-S dollar ransom was paid for their release. Allegations that an ex-guerrilla was involved are likely to confirm fears in Ecuador and other countries around the Andes that Colombia’s 37-year armed conflict is spilling over their borders. Find out more about AP Archive: Twitter: Facebook: ​​ Instagram: You can license this story through AP Archive: