The National Central Bureau of the International Police (Interpol) in the Chilean capital of Santiago extradited a Colombian citizen on Wednesday. The citizen was wanted by US authorities following the kidnapping and robbery of two US Embassy employees in Bogota, Colombia’s capital.
Gang Kidnappings:
Pedro José Silva Ochoa was a member of the “Los Tomaseros” gang, a gang that specialized in kidnapping individuals in what has been termed “millionaire rides,” wherein attackers will kidnap victims, drive them to an ATM, and force the victim to withdraw money, where they then violently beat the victim before fleeing the scene.
The eyes of US authorities fell on Silva Ochoa when he and his gang targeted two staff members of the US Embassy in Colombia, both of whom were members of the US Army on active duty. After targeting the two victims, Silva Ochoa stole their phones and made calls to the victims’ families, which allowed authorities to geolocate Silva Ochoa and notify Chilean authorities.
The suspect had reportedly fled Colombia following the crime, illegally entering Chile through a smuggling route before settling down in Santiago in 2021.
Silva Ochoa also stands accused of killing a 33-year-old woman by the name of Yuddith Alexandra Anya Pacheco, the sister of a former Colombian prosecutor, Yajaira Cáceres Pacheco, in 2020. Anya Pacheco had reportedly left her home in Bogota to attend a meeting in the Modelo Norte sector of the city. The young woman would then be drugged using clonazepam, a sedative that is commonly administered to treat seizures and panic attacks, before being forced into a vehicle and held for an estimated 12 hours.
The victim was then abandoned in another neighborhood of Bogota after being beaten by the aggressors. Due to the amount of clonazepam administered, Anya Pacheco would pass away weeks later while receiving medical attention in the hospital.
The extradition will be carried out by 17 agents from the FBI, who will transport Silva Ochoa in a Boeing 757 to Miami, where the suspect will be processed. Silva Ochoa will face numerous charges, including kidnapping, causing death by injury, grand theft, assault, and criminal association against an internationally protected person. If convicted, he could be sentenced to 60 years in prison.
