Colombia: Plot by Cuban jihadist to kill US diplomats halted
Police in Colombia have arrested a Cuban man suspected of plotting to kill American diplomats in the name of the Islamic State.
The suspect, Raul Gutierrez, arrived Thursday in handcuffs to a Bogota courtroom where a judge ordered him held without bail on terrorism and conspiracy charges. He was arrested earlier in the week in the western city of Pereira in a coordinated investigation involving police in Spain and the FBI.
Authorities said they had intercepted communications from late February in which Gutierrez allegedly discussed plans to make and detonate a homemade explosive in a restaurant in Bogota where he had sought work as a dishwasher and which was frequented by US diplomats. In another message sent over the Telegram instant messaging service, he also allegedly expressed a willingness to blow himself up for Allah and ISIS.
