The Colombian police say they have provisionally arrested four people who are suspected of being involved in the kidnapping of the father of Liverpool professional Luis Diaz.
Four suspects have been arrested in Colombia following the release of the kidnapped father of Colombian national soccer player Luis Díaz. The suspected perpetrators of the kidnapping have been identified, Colombia’s police chief William Salamanca announced on Saturday on the X platform, formerly Twitter.
Among them is the criminal contract group “Los Primos” (the Cousins) – the police said it was dissolved through cooperation between Colombian and British authorities. According to Salamanca, the arrests took place in the Guajira department in the northeast of the South American country. Both of the Liverpool striker’s parents were kidnapped there on October 28th. The mother was released shortly afterwards; the father, Luis Manuel Díaz, only after twelve days on Thursday.
The Catholic Church and a UN commission were involved in his release by the left-wing guerrilla organization ELN. Colombia’s President Gustavo Petro, who formerly belonged to a left-wing guerrilla group, had called on the ELN to immediately release Díaz’s father. After scoring a goal in a game, the 26-year-old athlete himself also addressed the kidnappers directly with the words “Freedom for Dad” on his T-shirt and a moving statement afterwards. The case made international headlines.