Three guerrillas of the leftist Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) wanted by Washington have been arrested along with their five collaborators, Spain's EFE news agency reported Sunday. The rebels were involved in the FARC's supply, logistic and finance networks, the police said, following their arrest Saturday. They smuggled weapons for the insurgent group from Venezuelan territory.Luz Mery Gutierrez Vergara, Ana Isabel Peña Arevalo and Camilo Rueda Gil would be extradited to the US soon, the police said. The leader of the network, Nancy Conde Rubio, had been arrested Feb 2 in Cucuta city near the northeastern border with Venezuela. The US authorities have also sought her extradition.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) and Interpol assisted the Colombian police in the operation launched simultaneously in Bogota, central Villavicencio and southwestern Palmira cities Friday to capture the rebels. The FARC, which mainly finances its operations by drug smuggling, has been fighting successive Colombian governments for more than a decade to establish a leftist regime.