A Cali municipal court ordered Tuesday that Anyela Moreno Oritz be remanded in custody while police investigate her suspected role in the FARC kidnapping of a Japanese citizen.
Japanese citizen Masao Tsutsui was released by the FARC in the countryside near Cali on Sunday after almost five months in captivity. Police attributed the release to “strong law enforcement pressure.”
In operations carried out in the wake of the kidnapping, police arrested Moreno in the municipality of Candelaria in the department of Valle del Cauca. According to El Pais, the woman entered the Japanese man’s flower shop in Candelaria on March 23 to buy some plants.
Moreno reportedly asked Tsutsui to deliver the plants to a specific site. He accepted and set out at 5PM on that day in his Toyotal Hi Lux truck, but did not return. His truck was later found incinerated. According to El Pais, authorities believe that Moreno handed Tsutsui over to the FARC’s Gabriel Galvis mobile column.
The FARC demanded a $540,000 ransom for his release, but Colombian authorities deny any ransom was paid.
