Former paramilitary death-squad leader captured in Colombia

[Judi Lynn]

Former paramilitary death-squad leader captured in Colombia
Feb 17, 2010, 3:20 GMT

Bogota - Police have arrested the former leader of a right-wing paramilitary death squad accused of ordering at least 2,500 murders in Colombia, judicial investigators said.

Arnuolfo Santamaria, alias Pipa, was captured by agents of the attorney general's office in the town of Soacha, where he passed himself off as a witch doctor and vendor of mobile telephones, the office said Tuesday.

Santamaria commanded the southern front of the paramilitary United Self-Defence Forces of Colombia (AUC), which authorities blamed for more than 5,000 crimes in the late 1990s and early 2000s. It operated in the department of Putumayo, bordering Ecuador and Peru.

~snip~
He was a fugitive for more than three years, accused of murder, kidnapping, forced disappearances and other crimes, including the slaying of a union organizer in the rural municipality of South San Miguel in 2005, officials said.

http://www.monstersandcritics.com/news/americas/news/article_1534169.php/Former-paramilitary-death-squad-leader-captured-in-Colombia