GALERAS, SUCRE, COLOMBIA, 2003 Officers at the Sucre Police Department received an anonymous call that the owner of a secluded property had been murdered. Twelve police officers were dispatched to the scene and went there in a convoy of motorcycles and cars.
When the convoy was about 0.6 mile (1 kilometer) from the scene of the alleged murder, a large explosion occurred, killing 6 police officers who were riding together in one car and slightly injuring the others.
The victims were identified as: Oscar Córdoba Palacios (sergeant), Ledys Majul Medrano (deputy chief), César Vélez Castaño (patrolman), Jair Cabrales Espitia (patrolman), Alejandro Puentes Moreno (officer), Pedro Rodríguez Alvarez (officer).
As it later turned out, the reported incident of the landowner’s murder was fictitious and the whole thing was a trap for the officers. The communist guerrilla group known as the FARC (Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia) was accused of the explosion.
