BOGOTA (Colombia): Seven Colombians accused of involvement in the 2013 murder of a US Drug Enforcement Administration agent were delivered to American authorities on Tuesday. Wanted in the United States on charges of kidnapping and murder, the accused were handed over at Catam air base on the outskirts of Bogota.

President Juan Manuel Santos and Colombia’s Constitutional Court had approved the extradition of the seven, who now face trail in the state of Virginia.

DEA agent James Terry Watson was killed on June 21, 2013, after being kidnapped while taking a taxi in northern Bogota.The defendants allegedly tried to rob him.

In Bogota, kidnapping and forcing victims to withdraw cash from ATMs is widespread. Victims are often released unharmed just hours after their capture.

Published in Dawn, July 2nd, 2014