Colombian police said Wednesday they arrested 2,403 suspected criminals in a nation-wide offensive to increase security in the country’s biggest cities.
According to the website of the National Police, the operation started Friday and will last until Monday and has so far resulted in the arrest of 2,391 common criminals, eight members of drug gangs and four members of guerrilla groups.
Police also seized 424 firearms, the website said.
Some 70,000 policeman are involved in the massive operation in the cities of Bogota, Medellin, Cali, Barranquilla, Cartagena, Pereira, Villavicencio and Bucaramanga.
Following his inauguration in August last year, President Santos vowed to curb soaring crime rates in the cities, which had been rising since 2008 when jailed leaders of the paramilitary AUC were extradited to the U.S. The paramilitaries were accused of running the underworld from their prison cells.
