BOGOTA – The kidnappers who grabbed the 10-year-old daughter of a Colombian police commander released the girl hours later, authorities said.
The daughter of Inspector Victor Cantoñi, police chief in the southwestern town of Padilla, was freed Thursday night in the nearby community of Toribio.
Alejandra Cantoñi was picked up by members of the Indigenous Guard taking part in the search for her along with along with police and army units, the mayor of the town of Guachene, Francisco Paz, told radio stations.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos confirmed the release of the minor on his Twitter account and said that an investigation is underway to find the perpetrators, though the army and local authorities attributed the kidnapping to the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC).
The minor was abducted by armed men Thursday morning at the entrance to Jorge Eliecer Gaitan School in Guachene.
The army blamed the kidnapping on a FARC guerrilla who goes by the alias of “Mordisco.”
The FARC, which ended Wednesday at midnight a nine-day truce declared on the occasion of the May 25 presidential election, announced in 2012 that it had renounced kidnapping for ransom.