LIMA, May 16, 2025 (BSS/AFP) - Colombian police on Thursday arrested the main suspect in the kidnapping and murder of 13 employees of a gold mine in the north of neighboring Peru, the government in Lima said.

The burnt bodies of the 13 kidnapping victims were recovered on May 4 in a tunnel at a mine in Pataz district, where a gold rush has led to a surge in violence.

Writing on X, Peru's interior ministry said the suspect, Miguel Rodriguez Diaz, alias "Cuchillo" (Knife), was arrested in a joint operation between the Peruvian and Colombian police forces and Interpol.

Colombian police chief Carlos Triana said on X that Rodriguez Diaz was arrested on the street in the city of Medellin "with the support of the US agency ICE-HSI," which is responsible for investigating transnational criminal gangs.

Triana added that he was the subject of an Interpol red notice, issued on charges of "criminal organization, aggravated kidnapping and aggravated homicide."

Peruvian President Dina Boluarte had directly accused Rodriguez Diaz of ordering the killings of the 13 employees of Peruvian mining company Poderosa.

In the wake of the massacre, she suspended gold mining in Pataz for a month.

Mining is a key economic driver in Peru, one of the largest gold producers in Latin America.

But it is also a key earner for organized crime gangs, who work with illegal miners to get their hands on rich seams of gold and other metals.

Peru is experiencing an unprecedented wave of gang violence and racketeering.

Several parts of the country are under a state of emergency.