Police

COPS hunting for Liverpool star Luis Diaz’s dad have offered a reward as the search to find the kidnapped parent continues.A reward of up to £40,000 has been offered by Colombian authorities for information as elite commandos scour the jungle in search for answers.
Colombian authorities issued a £40,000 reward to help find Liverpool star Luis Diaz’s kidnapped fatherCredit: AFP
Colombia’s elite Jungle Commandos are scouring the jungle in the Venezuelan borderCredit: Instagram / policiadecolombia
Soldiers are simultaneously patrolling the area on foot by following road routes heading to VenezuelaCredit: Instagram / policiadecolombia
Diaz’s parents were kidnapped on Saturday night by armed gunmen at a gas station in their home town of Barrancas, La Guajira, in Colombia’s northern region.
Colombia’s top police chief says he is confident the captors are still in the country amid fears that the kidnappers had managed to smuggle the winger’s dad into Venezuela.
But Colombia’s National Police director William Salamanca Ramirez insisted “the information we have is that they are still in Colombian territory but the search is continuing.”
Luiz Manuel Diaz’s captors are on foot after dumping the motorbikes they used to evade capture, local media reported.
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The Liverpool player’s mum, Cilenis Marulanda, was later rescued after being found in Barrancas on Saturday, but her husband is yet to be found.
It is understood that arrest warrants have been issued for several suspects after cops identified four of them.
Colombia President Gustavo Petro said “all the public forces have been deployed” to find Diaz’s father.
That includes two motorised platoons, unmanned aircraft, helicopters and a plane with radar in a full-scale search.
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The country’s elite Jungle Commandos have been focusing on the Perija Mountains straddling the Colombian-Venezuelan border, which is covered by cloud forest.
General Salamanca told local media late yesterday: “These men can be in areas like this for a fortnight with just one field ration.
“They are trained and prepared for that.”
Colombian Army soldiers are simultaneously patrolling the area on foot by following road routes heading to Venezuela.
Colonel Giovanni Montanez said: “We are closing off roads in accordance with military intelligence and carrying out searches.”
Locals in Barrancas are due to stage a protest march to demand the liberation of the footballer’s dad later today.
Some of his relatives are expected to lead the march, but it was not clear if his mum would be taking part.
It comes after the Liverpool winger, 26, was urged not to head back to his homeland amid safety concerns, the Mirror reports.
Overnight, Luis Manuel Diaz’s relative Asmiris Brito said God was accompanying him.
“God is with him, accompanying him, that’s the hope we have, that he returns safe and well,” he told local media.
Alejandro Zapata, deputy director of Colombia’s National Police, indicated yesterday they were closing the net on the kidnap gang, but was not in a position to name names.
He said, before reports of the arrest warrants emerged, that he wasn’t in a position to name names.
But he said investigators were “clear about people who could be linked” to Saturday’s abduction of Luis Manuel Diaz and Cilenis Marulanda in their home town of Barrancas.
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Mr Zapata confirmed investigators were treating the kidnap as a “premeditated crime” which had been meticulously planned.
He added: “When something like this happens, it is generally not spontaneous and there has been previous planning, people that draw people to a certain place, that is, who place them somewhere so that others arrive and that’s what we are investigating.”
Diaz’s mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was also taken but was later rescued after being found in the city of Barrancas the same nightCredit: Supplied
The Liverpool winger, 26, was reportedly urged not to head back home for safety reasonsCredit: PA More