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4 arrested related to US DEA agent's killing

26 June 2013 00:40 (UTC +04:00)

Baku-APA. Colombia's National Police Tuesday confirmed the arrest of four suspects in connection with the stabbing death of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) operative James Terry Watson last Thursday in Bogota, APA reports.

In a statement, the police said that in conjunction with DEA agents, and the help of a reward for information leading to the whereabouts of the criminals, they were able to make the arrests.

Investigators continue to search for the remaining criminal gang members implicated in Watson's death Thursday night, after boarding a taxi in northern Bogota.

The ongoing investigation is being coordinated by agents from the national police, Colombia's Attorney General's Office and DEA members.

Following several police operations in Bogota, Guamo, Tolima and Villavicencio, special agents arrested the suspects, whose names were not released, but who have been identified as members of a kidnapping ring, said the statement.

The International Criminal Police Organization (INTERPOL) issued a red alert for the arrest of the murderers and a U.S. court in Washington has requested they be extradited for the killing of the DEA agent.

The police statement said Watson boarded a taxi on 93rd Street in Bogota, but the car was intercepted a few streets away by another vehicle carrying two men who got out and stabbed him. One of the suspects arrested is the taxi driver.

Watson, whose remains were repatriated Monday afternoon, married a Colombian citizen in April and was living in Cartagena, from where he had been carrying out his anti-drug investigations for the past three years.