M2CC FEBRUARY 2024

News from M2CC 

FEBRUARY 2024 EDITION 

Denied Care, Deaths in 

Japan Result from Lack of 

Emergency Medical Services 

for American Personnel 

See page 22 

Newsletter 

WWW.M2CC.US 

DeSantis is Sending Florida’s State Guard 

into Texas Amid border Fight with Biden 

Florida Gov. Ron DeSantis on Thursday 

announced he is sending members of the 

Florida State Guard, a civilian military 

force under his control, and other state 

resources to the U.S.-Mexico border to help 

Texas stop what he called an “invasion.” 

The deployment comes as Texas is in a 

standoff with the Biden administration 

over efforts to keep migrants from crossing 

into the state with a concertina-wire 

barrier. In January, the Supreme Court 

sided with the Biden administration and 

said federal officials would be allowed to 

tear down state-erected barriers, which 

Texas officials have vowed to continue 

building if taken down. “The goal is to 

help Texas fortify this border, help them 

Continued on page 14

2 | M2CC - News www.m2cc.us FEBRUARY 2024 EDITION WWW.M2CC.US 

Newsletter | 3 

Albany Police Department 

VISION 

The Albany Police Department is a nationally accredited law 

enforcement agency committed to providing excellence in policing, by 

enhancing the safety and security of individuals through valuing human 

life and building partnerships that strengthen relationships within our 

community. 

MISSION 

Our mission is to develop our personnel to deliver quality law 

enforcement services with professionalism, integrity, and compassion 

and to ensure with every interaction we are building trust and modeling 

ethical policing in our community. 

CORE VALUES 

Professionalism 

Respect 

Integrity 

Accountability 

Interpersonal Skill



What to Know About the US Strikes in Iraq and 

Syria and its Attacks with the UK in Yemen 

BEIRUT — British forces on Saturday joined their 

American allies in new attacks against militia in Yemen. 

The U.S. military earlier launched strikes on dozens of 

sites manned by Iran-backed fighters in western Iraq and 

eastern Syria in retaliation for a drone strike in Jordan 

in late January that killed three U.S. service members 

and wounded dozens. Tensions have been rising in 

the region since the Israel-Hamas war started on Oct. 

7. A week later, Iran-backed fighters, who are loosely 

allied with Hamas, began carrying out drone and rocket 

attacks on bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria. 

A deadly strike on the desert outpost known as Tower 

22 in Jordan near the Syrian border further increased 

tensions. 

What happened in Yemen? 

The United States and Britain said they launched a 

barrage of strikes against Houthi targets in Yemen from 

fighter jets and warships in the Red Sea. The strikes hit 

36 Houthi targets in 13 locations, according to the U.S. 

and U.K. militaries. It is the third time in two weeks 

that the U.S. and Britain have conducted a large joint 

operation to strike Houthi weapon launchers, radar sites 

and drones. The strikes came in response to almost 

daily missile or drone attacks against commercial and 

military ships in the Red Sea and Gulf of Aden. Defense 

Secretary Lloyd Austin said Australia, Bahrain, Canada, 

Denmark, the Netherlands, and New Zealand supported 

the latest wave of strikes intended to “defend lives and 

the free flow of commerce in one of the world’s most 

critical waterways.” What jets were used in the Yemen 

strikes? The Houthi targets were struck by U.S. F/A-18 

fighter jets from the USS Dwight D. Eisenhower aircraft 

carrier, by British Typhoon FGR4 fighter aircraft and by 

the Navy destroyers USS Gravely and the USS Carney 

firing Tomahawk missiles from the Red Sea, according 

to U.S. officials and the U.K. Defense Ministry. 

Who was targeted in Syria and Iraq, and why? The 

strikes on Friday came in retaliation for the drone strike 

that killed three U.S. troops in Jordan on Jan. 28. U.S. 

forces struck 85 targets in seven locations in a strategic 

region where thousands of Iran-backed fighters are 

deployed to help expand Iran’s influence from Tehran 

to the Mediterranean coast. U.S. bases in Syria’s eastern 

province of Deir el-Zour and the northeastern province 

of Hassakeh have come under attack for years. The 

Euphrates River cuts through Syria into Iraq, with 

U.S. troops and American-backed Kurdish-led fighters 

on the east bank and Iran-backed fighters and Syrian 

government forces to the west. 

Bases for U.S. troops in Iraq have come under attack 

too. Iran-backed militias control the Iraqi side of the 

border and move freely in and out of Syria, where they 

man posts with their allies from Lebanon’s powerful 

Hezbollah and other Shiite armed groups. What was hit 

in Iraq and Syria? How many people were killed? The 

U.S. military said the barrage of strikes hit command 

and control headquarters; intelligence centers; rockets 

and missiles, drone and ammunition storage sites; and 

other facilities connected to the militias and the Iranian 

Revolutionary Guard’s Quds Force, which handles 

Tehran’s relationship with, and arming of, regional 

militias. Syrian opposition activists said the strikes hit the 

Imam Ali base near the border Syrian town of Boukamal, 

the Ein Ali base in Quriya, just south of the strategic town 

of Mayadeen, and a radar center on a mountain near the 

provincial capital that is also called Deir el-Zour. Rami 

Abdurrahman, who heads the Britain-based Syrian 

Observatory for Human Rights, said 29 rank-and-file 

fighters were killed in those strikes. The attacks also hit 

a border crossing known as Humaydiya, where militia 

cross back and forth between Iraq and Syria, according 

to Omar Abu Layla, a Europe-based activist who heads 

the Deir Ezzor 24 media outlet. He said the strikes 

also hit an area inside the town of Mayadeen known as 

“the security quarter.” Iraqi government spokesperson 

Bassim al-Awadi said the border strikes killed 16 people 

and caused “significant damage” to homes and private 

properties. The Popular Mobilization Force, a coalition 

of Iran-backed militia that is nominally under the 

control of the Iraqi military, said the strikes in western 

Iraq hit a logistical support post, a tanks battalion, an 

artillery post and a hospital. The PMF said 16 people 

were killed and 36 wounded, and that authorities were 

searching for other missing people. Will Iran-backed 

fighters retaliate? Iran and groups it backs in the region 

aim to put pressure on Washington to force Israel to 

end its crushing offensive in Gaza, but do not appear to 

want all-out war. The defeat of Hamas would be a major 

setback for Tehran, which considers itself and its allies 

the main defenders of the Palestinian cause. The Islamic 

Resistance in Iraq, an umbrella group for Iran-backed 

groups, said it carried out two explosive drone attacks 

Saturday on bases housing U.S. troops in the northern 

Iraqi city of Irbil and a post in northeast Syria near the 

Iraqi border. The only Iran-backed faction that has been 

escalating are the Houthi rebels in Yemen, and they 

have made clear that they have no intention of scaling 

back their campaign.



LIZA WELCH AMARO 

EMBA Class of 2019 

Head of Marketing 

ConnexPay 

Achieve 

Your 

Possible 

You have the drive. 

You’ve gained the experience. 

Now combine them with a nationally 

ranked executive business education 

and take your career to the next level. 

Auburn Executive MBA 

achieveyourpossible.mba 

Auburn University is an equal opportunity 

educational institution / employer.



illegally a decade ago, with Russia’s southern Krasnodar 

Other Ukrainian officials said it aims to manufacture 

Zelenskyy thanked Germany late Thursday for a delivery of 

region. The span is a crucial supply link for Russia’s war 

this year more than 10,000 attack drones with a range of 

military aid, especially air defense materiel that he said “is 

effort. 

hundreds of kilometers, as well as more than 1,000 longer- 

timely and focused on our priorities.” 

The Russian Defense Ministry said its defenses intercepted 

36 drones over Crimea and one over Krasnodar, part of an 

range drones that can hit targets well behind the front line 

and inside Russia. 

Ukraine “should look to continue degrading Russia’s ability 

to wage war by conducting an escalating campaign of 

emerging pattern of intensified Ukrainian aerial attacks in 

Both sides are raising the stakes of their long-range warfare 

airstrikes on targets far behind the front lines throughout 

recent days. 

as soldiers remain bogged down on the wintry battlefield. 

occupied Ukraine and inside Russia itself,” according to 

Ukraine Unleashes More 

Drones and Missiles at 

Russian Areas as Part of 

its New Year Strategy 

Russian air defenses downed dozens of Ukrainian drones in 

occupied Crimea and southern Russia on Friday, officials 

said, as Kyiv pressed its strategy of targeting the Moscowannexed 

peninsula and taking the 22-month war well beyond 

Ukraine’s borders. 

Air raid sirens wailed in Sevastopol, the largest city in 

Crimea, and traffic was suspended for a second straight day 

on a bridge connecting the peninsula, which Moscow seized 

illegally a decade ago, with Russia’s southern Krasnodar 

region. The span is a crucial supply link for Russia’s war 

effort. 

The Russian Defense Ministry said its defenses intercepted 

36 drones over Crimea and one over Krasnodar, part of an 

emerging pattern of intensified Ukrainian aerial attacks in 

recent days. 

Russian air defenses downed dozens of Ukrainian drones in 

occupied Crimea and southern Russia on Friday, officials 

said, as Kyiv pressed its strategy of targeting the Moscowannexed 

peninsula and taking the 22-month war well beyond 

Ukraine’s borders. 

Air raid sirens wailed in Sevastopol, the largest city in 

Crimea, and traffic was suspended for a second straight day 

on a bridge connecting the peninsula, which Moscow seized 

A Ukrainian Neptune anti-ship missile also was destroyed 

over the northwestern part of the Black Sea, the ministry 

said. 

The developments came after three people were injured 

Thursday night by other Ukrainian rocket and drone attacks 

on the Russian border city of Belgorod and the surrounding 

region, said Belgorod Gov. Vyacheslav Gladkov. 

He posted photographs on Telegram of an apartment building 

with some windows shattered and damaged cars. He said 

authorities could help those wanting to move farther from 

the border. 

Ukrainian attacks on Dec. 30 in Belgorod killed 25 people, 

officials there said. 

Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy has pledged to 

hit more targets on the Crimean Peninsula and inside Russian 

border regions this year. The goal is to unsettle Russians as 

President Vladimir Putin seeks another six years in power 

in a March 17 election. 

A Ukrainian attack on military facilities in Crimea on 

Thursday affected a command center and the peninsula’s air 

defense system, according to a spokesperson for Ukraine’s 

southern joint forces, Nataliia Humeniuk. 

She said the Russian military recently relocated its Crimean 

launch sites for Shahed drones. 

It was not possible to verify either side’s claims. 

Following a drone strike deep inside Russia last year, 

Zelenskyy said Ukraine had developed a weapon that can 

hit targets 700 kilometers (400 miles) away. He said last 

month Kyiv plans to produce 1 million drones, which have 

become a key battlefield weapon. 

The U.K. Defense Ministry said Friday that “ground 

combat has continued to be characterized by either a static 

front line or very gradual, local Russian advances in key 

sectors.” 

The Kremlin, meanwhile, has acquired ballistic missiles 

from North Korea and fired at least one of them into 

Ukraine on Dec. 30, the White House said Thursday, citing 

recently declassified U.S. intelligence. It also is seeking 

close-range ballistic missiles from Iran, National Security 

Council spokesman John Kirby said. 

British Defense Minister Grant Shapps said Pyongyang 

would pay a high price for supporting Russia, although 

he didn’t say in what way, and he accused Moscow of 

violating a U.N. embargo on arms shipments to and from 

North Korea. 

“The world has turned its back on Russia, forcing Putin 

into the humiliation of going cap in hand to North Korea 

to keep his illegal invasion going,” Shapps said on X, 

formerly Twitter. 

Asked about the development, Ukrainian air force 

spokesman Yurii Ihnat said in televised comments Friday 

that he couldn’t immediately confirm the use of the North 

Korean-supplied missiles, adding that experts need to 

study the fragments. Russian officials have refrained from 

commenting on previous U.S. claims that North Korea has 

supplied ammunition to Moscow. 

Ukraine said it stopped 21 out of 29 Russian Shahed 

drones launched late Thursday and early Friday. The 

assault injured two people, including a 14-year-old, and 

was the latest of almost daily Russian drone attacks in the 

new year. 

Mykola Bielieskov, a research fellow at Ukraine’s National 

Institute for Strategic Studies. 

“This could include attacks on troop concentrations, military 

bases, and munitions stores along with logistical hubs and 

armament production facilities,” he wrote in an assessment 

published by the Atlantic Council, a U.S. think tank.



Coast Guard Marine 

Inspectors Rescue 

'Connie the Container 

Dog' 

It was just another routine day of inspecting 

shipping containers at the Port of Houston for 

U.S. Coast Guard officer Ryan McMahon when 

he and his team thought they heard barking 

coming from inside one of the thousands of 

containers that surrounded them. 

strengthen the barricades, help them add 

barriers, help them add the wire that they 

need so that we can stop this invasion 

once and for all,” DeSantis said at a press 

conference in Jacksonville. 

DeSantis said State Guard members would 

be deployed to Texas alongside members 

of the Florida National Guard and Florida 

Highway Patrol troopers, who in recent 

years have taken part in Texas Gov. Greg 

Abbott’s border security initiatives. It 

is unclear how many members will be 

sent, or for how long, but at the press 

conference there were roughly 50 members 

standing by the governor as he made the 

announcement. The deployment will mark 

the first time members of the Florida State 

Guard have been activated to do work 

outside the state. The volunteer force, 

which was revived by DeSantis in 2022 to 

respond to emergencies in the state, so far 

has been activated to respond to natural 

disasters. DeSantis’ office indicated in the 

last year he also intends to use the State 

Guard to help “law enforcement with 

riots and illegal immigration.” At the 

press conference, DeSantis was flanked 

by dozens of members of the Florida State 

Guard, Florida National Guard and Florida 

Highway Patrol. A private jet registered 

to a private company was parked behind 

them and a podium that read: “Stop the 

invasion.” “We at the Florida State Guard 

are postured to deliver rapid response 

to any and all threats to public safety 

wherever and whenever need arises,” said 

Mark Thieme, the director of Florida State 

Guard at the press conference. 

VISIT OUR WEBSITE 

AT M2CC.US 

“Oh, it’s scratching, dude,” one of the inspectors 

said in video they recorded Wednesday morning 

as the team looked up at the container, stacked 

about 25 feet (8 meters) in the air. 

A crane was used to bring it to the ground, and 

out popped a very sweet and friendly dog. 

“As soon as we opened it, we could see the little 

dog’s face poking out. She was right there, like 

she knew we were going to be there to open 

it for her. And she just, she wasn’t scared or 

anything. She just seemed happy more than 

anything, to be out of that dark space and in 

the arms of people that were going to take care 

of her,” McMahon, a petty officer 2nd class, 

told The Associated Press on Friday. 

Coast Guard officials would later determine 

that the canine — since nicknamed Connie the 

container dog — had been trapped inside for at 

least eight days, with no food or water. 

She was a little dirty and “definitely pretty 

skinny,” McMahon said. 

McMahon and the three other inspectors drove 

Connie to an animal shelter in the Houston 

suburb of Pasadena, where she was checked 

out. A rescue group, Forever Changed Animal 

Rescue, has taken her in and is working to get 

her healthy and ready for adoption.



Coast Guard officials are not 

sure where the container came 

from, but inside were junked 

vehicles that were likely being 

shipped overseas to be sold for 

parts. 

“So based on that, they think 

that the dog most likely was 

in a junkyard, in a car. And 

that’s how she accidentally got 

put in the container,” Guard 

spokeswoman Chief Petty 

Officer Corinne Zilnicki said. 

McMahon said he’s grateful he 

and his team were at the right 

place and at the right time to 

hear Connie barking and prevent 

the container from being put 

on a cargo ship. They usually 

conduct inspections once a week 

throughout the Port of Houston, 

and on Wednesday they were 

at the port’s Bayport Container 

Terminal which likely has over 

10,000 containers, he said. 

“We will also be doing a full workup on her to ensure that she 

receives all the care she needs and deserves,” the group said. 

The inspectors had thought about adopting Connie, but it wasn't 

the right time for any of them. 

“We know with all this, she’s going to go to a good home where 

they love her and take care of her,” McMahon said. 

“It would take at least another 

week to get to where she was 

going (on a cargo ship) and two 

weeks without food or water. 

I don’t think she would have 

made it,” McMahon said. 

Forever Changed Animal 

Rescue thanked “all of the 

amazing people involved in 

this rescue and saving Connie’s 

life.” 

The rescue group said in a 

Facebook post that Connie was a 

bit underweight, tested positive 

for heartworm and would be 

getting treatment for it.



Missing Helicopter 

Carrying 5 Marines Found 

in Mountainous Area 

Outside San Diego 

WASHINGTON — A missing military helicopter 

that had five Marines onboard has been found 

by search and rescue crews in a mountainous 

area outside San Diego, the Marine Corps said 

Wednesday. The helicopter was found at about 9 

a.m. local time in Pine Valley, Calif., according 

to the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. The Marines on 

the helicopter were assigned to the Marine Heavy 

Helicopter Squadron 361, Marine Aircraft Group 

16 of the 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing. They were 

flying in a CH-53E Super Stallion helicopter and 

traveling Tuesday from Creech Air Force Base 

in Nevada to Marine Corps Air Station Miramar 

in California when the aircraft was reported 

overdue, the service had said. 

The 3rd Marine Aircraft Wing, which is headquartered 

at the Miramar base, has been coordinating search and 

rescue efforts with the San Diego County Sheriff’s 

Department and the Civil Air Patrol. The National 

Weather Service in San Diego is expecting weather 

conditions Wednesday to include 6 to 10 inches of snow 

in the mountains above 5,000 feet and gusty winds. The 

sheriff’s department has said it was notified at about 1 

a.m. that the helicopter was overdue for arrival at the 

Miramar base and was last seen in the area of Pine Valley, 

a mountainous region about 35 miles east of downtown 

San Diego. The Marine Corps air station is located about 

12 miles north of downtown San Diego. 

The CH-53E Super Stallion is the largest and heaviest 

helicopter in the military. It can move troops and 

equipment over rugged terrain in bad weather, including 

at night, according to the Marine Corps website. It is 

also nicknamed the “hurricane maker” because of the 

amount of downwash generated from its three engines. 

No further information was provided Wednesday 

about the condition of the helicopter or the five 

Marines onboard. The California Department of 

Forestry and Fire Protection tweeted Wednesday 

that multiple agencies have been requested to 

assist in the rescue due to heavy snow. Waves 

of heavy downpours hit the area throughout the 

night from a historic storm that has drenched 

California this week.



Details on the Iraqi Government’s Relationship with 

Armed Groups That are Clashing with US Forces 

BEIRUT — A U.S. strike in Baghdad that killed a commander of the powerful Kataib Hezbollah paramilitary group this week 

highlighted the ambiguous status of the country’s Iran-allied armed factions. Some operate simultaneously as a part of the official 

security forces and outside of state control. That has put the government of Prime Minister Mohammed Shia al-Sudani in an 

increasingly delicate position as it attempts to balance between its relations with the United States and with Iraqi armed groups 

that are sometimes in direct conflict with U.S. forces. Here’s a look at the complicated relationship between Iraq, paramilitary 

groups such as Kataib Hezbollah and the United States: 

What is Kataib Hezbolloah? Kataib Hezbollah is one of the most 

powerful armed groups in Iraq. It was formed during the power 

vacuum that followed the 2003 U.S.-led invasion of Iraq, with 

support from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard. The Iraqi 

faction is part of the Popular Mobilization Forces. The PMF 

is a coalition of primarily Shiite, Iran-backed armed groups 

that joined in the fight against the Islamic State group after it 

seized large sections of Iraq in 2014. The PMF became allies of 

convenience with forces from a U.S.-led international coalition 

fighting IS. However, Kataib Hezbollah and some other groups 

that are part of the PMF also have attacked U.S. forces in Iraq. 

The U.S. has designated Kataib Hezbollah as a terrorist group. 

In January 2020, a U.S. airstrike killed the group’s founder, Abu 

Mahdi al-Muhandis, and Iranian Gen. Qassem Soleimani. 

Wednesday’s strike killed Wissam Muhammad Sabir al- 

Saadi, known as Abu Baqir al-Saadi, who was in charge of 

Kataib Hezbollah’s operations in Syria. The U.S. has said he 

was responsible for “directly planning and participating in 

attacks” on American troops. What is the relationship between 

the paramilitary groups and the Iraqi state? In 2016, the Iraqi 

government designated the Popular Mobilization Forces as an 

“independent military formation” within the Iraqi armed forces. 

However, some of the groups that make up the PMF are also part 

of the Islamic Resistance in Iraq, which has launched around 

170 strikes against bases housing U.S. troops in Iraq and Syria 

over the past four months. The group has said it is retaliating for 

Washington’s support of Israel in the ongoing war in Gaza and 

aims to push U.S. troops out of the region. 

The Iraqi government has condemned the strikes on U.S. 

forces while also in many cases condemning the U.S. response, 

particularly when it has conducted strikes in the capital or hit 

PMF factions that did not have a clear role in the attacks on 

U.S. forces. Renad Mansour, a senior research fellow at the 

Chatham House, said the PMF is effectively an arm of the Iraqi 

government. “They view themselves as protecting the state,” 

whether by fighting against IS or by cracking down on antigovernment 

protesters, he said. Lahib Higel, a senior analyst for 

Iraq at the International Crisis Group, said some of the armed 

groups in the PMF have a dual role. “They have a day job, which 

is their work in the (PMF). And they have another role, which 

is that they conduct these resistance operations against the U.S. 

presence,” she said. What has been the reaction in Iraq to the 

US strike? Maj. Gen. Tahsin al-Khafaji, spokesman for the Joint 

Operations Command, which includes an array of Iraqi security 

forces, accused the U.S. Thursday of “clear aggression and a 

violation of Iraqi sovereignty.” Iraqi military spokesman Yehia 

Rasool called Wednesday’s strike a “blatant assassination ... 

in the heart of a residential neighborhood in the capital.” The 

Coordination Framework, a coalition of mainly Shiite, Iran-allied 

political parties that brought Sudani to power in late 2022, urged 

the prime minister to intensify efforts to end the presence of the 

U.S.-led military coalition in the country. Last month, Iraqi and 

U.S. military officials launched formal talks to wind down the 

coalition’s mission, but the process was paused a day later after 

a drone attack by the Islamic Resistance in Iraq against a base in 

Jordan killed three U.S. troops. What will happen next? While 

tensions are rising, Mansour said, “no side actually wants an 

all out confrontation, a direct war, in Iraq.” Instead, he said, the 

U.S. and Iraq will likely continue to work toward an exit by the 

coalition forces and move toward establishing bilateral relations 

between the two countries. Higel said the Iran-allied factions 

will likely now push the Iraqi government for an accelerated 

timeline for phasing out the coalition. “The U.S. won’t leave 

under threat and with a gun to their head, so to speak, so it’s a bit 

of a catch-22,” she said. “You need de-escalation in order to hold 

those talks and actually reach some results.”



TO ADVERTISE 

contact Kyle.Stephens@m2cc.us 

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT M2CC.US 

VISIT OUR WEBSITE AT M2CC.US

20 | M2CC - News www.m2cc.us FEBRUARY 2024 EDITION 

Colombian Man Pleads Guilty to Drugging, 

Kidnapping 2 US Soldiers in Bogota 

A Colombian national pleaded guilty Friday in U.S. federal 

court for his role in drugging, kidnapping and assaulting 

two American soldiers who were on temporary assignment 

to Bogota, Colombia. Jeffersson Arango Castellanos, 36, 

and two other Colombian nationals targeted the soldiers on 

March 5, 2020, while they were at a bar in Zona T, an upscale 

entertainment district, according to court documents. The 

two soldiers, who are not named in the documents, went 

to the bar to watch soccer and dance. Kenny Julieth Uribe 

Chiran and Pedro Jose Silva Ochoa were also indicted in 

the incident, according to court documents. However, the 

documents do not show whether Uribe or Silva have been 

extradited and no attorneys are listed for them. 

At the bar, the Arango and Uribe put tranquilizers in the 

soldiers’ drinks while Silva waited outside with a car. The 

trio then kidnapped the soldiers and took their wallets, 

debit cards, credit cards and cellphones. Arango then used 

the cards to make purchases and withdraw cash. The two 

soldiers lost consciousness during the ordeal, according to 

court documents. Their absence was immediately noted 

because they did not show up for work the next day. One 

soldier was found in the afternoon in his apartment but 

could not remember how he got there. A woman called 

police when she saw the other soldier struggling to walk 

and falling in the street on the morning of March 6. Police 

took him to a clinic, and he later took a taxi back to his 

apartment where a member of the U.S. Embassy’s security 

detail was waiting for him, according to court documents. 

A toxicology screening at a local hospital confirmed the 

soldiers, who had bruises and abrasions, were drugged 

with benzodiazepines, which are tranquilizers. Colombian 

National Police and the FBI worked jointly on the 

investigation and used surveillance footage from the bar and 

ATMs and stores where the cards were used. The soldiers 

were seen on video being escorted out of the bar after 2 

a.m. and into a waiting car. Colombian police then began 

intercepting calls on Arango’s phone. They heard Arango, 

Uribe and Silva discuss the events as a common scheme 

among them but that the coronavirus pandemic had slowed 

their efforts. Arango and Uribe were arrested in Colombia in 

December 2020 on charges unrelated to the soldiers but for 

similar actions, according to court documents. An FBI agent 

then interviewed Arango, who admitted to drugging and 

robbing the soldiers. In May, Arango was extradited to the 

U.S., where his case is with the Southern District of Florida. 

He pleaded guilty to kidnapping an internationally protected 

person, conspiracy to kidnap an internationally protected 

person, assaulting an internationally protected person and 

conspiracy to assault an internationally protected person. A 

sentencing date has not yet been set. The Justice Department 

did not immediately respond to questions about the standing 

of the other two.

M2CC FEBRUARY 2024

Create successful ePaper yourself

Delete template?

Save as template?