Army Captain detained in Bogotá for espionage and links to dissident factions
Captain Óscar Daniel Bastidas Delgado was captured in Bogotá after a year of investigation for alleged ties to the 57 Yair Bermúdez front and a kidnapping in Valle del Cauca.
Active Army officer captured in Bogotá for supplying information to illegal armed group
An active-duty captain of the National Army was detained in Bogotá accused of espionage and maintaining alleged ties with an illegal structure linked to FARC dissidents. According to infobae.com, the officer identified as Óscar Daniel Bastidas Delgado was captured after a year of joint investigation by military counter-intelligence units and the National Police.
The Army Command clarified that Bastidas Delgado was assigned to the High Mountain Battalion No. 5, based in Quindío, and that during that period he allegedly supplied privileged information to the 57 Yair Bermúdez front, a structure of the Residual Organized Armed Group (GAOR) that operates in the south-western part of the country.
Charges against the officer
Judicial authorities will press charges against Bastidas Delgado for alleged bribery, conspiracy to commit aggravated crimes and falsification of documents. The military institution also links him to cooperation in criminal activities, including the kidnapping of a doctor and her children, which occurred on 14 August 2025 in Sevilla, Valle del Cauca.
"An officer from Military Intelligence who was assigned to the High Mountain Battalion No. 5 in Quindío was captured in Bogotá. He was supplying privileged information to the structure and was cooperating in criminal activities such as the kidnapping of a doctor together with her children on 14/08/25 in Sevilla, Valle del Cauca," the Army stated in an official statement.
The investigations are also exploring possible connections between the captain and the ELN, although the institutional statement explicitly mentions only ties with the 57 front. This aspect will need to be clarified in the judicial process.
Nine alleged members of the 57 front detained in Valle del Cauca
In parallel, the National Police captured nine alleged members of the same front in a rural area of Bugalagrande, Valle del Cauca. Among those detained is alias Majiño, identified as Michael Taicus, pointed out as the second-in-command and explosives expert of the organisation.
According to the authorities, Taicus had previously belonged to the Urías Rondón structure in Nariño and had commanded a unit of the Carlos Patiño front in Cauca. The Police attribute to him a criminal history of 15 years and claim he joined the 57 front approximately two months ago.
In the same operation, alias Médico was captured, considered a trusted man of the structure's leader, as well as individuals known as Bombero, Juanda, Marcos, Elizabeth, Tatiana and Bastidas. Following five raids, the authorities seized 12 mobile devices, a computer, nine containers with black powder and a handcrafted mortar grenade adapted for launching via drones.
The authorities are investigating whether some of those captured are related to the homicide of professional soldier Andrés Hoyos Urbano, which occurred on 26 September in the corregimiento of Ceilán, and to the attack on 11 October in La Marina, a rural area of Tuluá, where patrolman Diego Andrés Sanabria was killed and another uniformed officer was injured.
Operation in Meta leaves one dead and three detained
On 17 October, in the Guaimaral vereda, a rural area of Puerto Rico in the department of Meta, troops from the Direct Action and Reconnaissance Battalion No. 11, assigned to the Rapid Deployment Force No. 11, detained alias Junior Rojas, pointed out as the second-in-command and person responsible for the finances of the Marco Aurelio Buendía structure, linked to the Jorge Suárez Briceño Bloc of FARC dissidents. Two other people were detained and a woman died during combat.
In the operation, two rifles, two pistols, three hand grenades, 274 cartridges of different calibres, equipment, a telescopic sight, communication devices and pamphlets which, according to the Army, were intended for extortion activities were seized.
The authorities attribute to Junior Rojas approximately six years of involvement in illegal armed groups, collection of extortion payments and obtaining resources to finance the purchase of weaponry. They also link him to a possible explosive attack that occurred on 21 September in Puerto Chorizo, in the jurisdiction of Vistahermosa, where two soldiers were injured.
The three detained individuals and the material seized in Meta were placed at the disposal of the judicial authorities to define formal charges in the corresponding process.
Source: Google News CO — Crime