Colombia police arrest 3rd suspect in Uribe assassination plot – Colombia News

Police in southern Colombia arrested a third suspect in the plot to assassinate Senator Miguel Uribe of the far-right Democratic Center party and reportedly found leads to a fourth suspect.

The third suspect is an alleged drug dealer, Katherine Martinez, a.k.a. “Gabriela.”

The suspect was arrested in the southern Colombian city of Florencia, the home of a male suspect who was arrested last week, and flown back to Bogota for her indictment.

This suspect, a man identified as Carlos Eduardo Mora, was the driver of a car in which Gabriela and a fourth suspect, a man identified as “El Costeño,” handed a 9mm Glock to the 14-year-old sicario just minutes before the assassination attempt against Uribe.

Colombia’s prosecution arrests 2nd suspect in Uribe assassination plot

Gabriela allegedly requested the Uber-like ride that dropped the 14-year-old sicario off in the Modelia neighborhood where the attack took place, according to newspaper El Tiempo.

The suspect later appeared in the neighborhood with “El Costeño,” an alleged native from the northwestern Uraba region, according to CCTV images broadcast by television network Caracol.

“El Costeño” was the one who ended up paying for the ride after “Gabriela” failed to respond to payment requests, the driver reportedly told investigators.

The three adult suspects are the ones who are most likely to bring closer to the suspected mastermind behind the assassination plot that shook Colombia’s political establishment and increased tensions between President Gustavo Petro and the opposition.

Immediately after his arrest, the teenage sicario said that he had been hired for the hit by “the guy from the pit,” which would refer to the leader of the neighborhood gang or “collection office” that was hired to provide the assassin.

Whether this man if “El Costeño” or the detained adult male is unclear at this point.

In their attempt to find the mastermind behind the assassination attempt, Prosecutor General Luz Adriana Camargo has said that multiple lines of investigation were opened.

These investigations would also look into how the assassin knew about Uribe’s appearance in Modelia, which had not been publicly announced.

With the help of American authorities, prosecutors are also trying to find out how the Glock found its way to Bogota after it was purchased in a town in Arizona in 2020.