U.S. Soldiers Detained in Colombia Plot

May 4, 9:05 PM (ET)

By KIM HOUSEGO

CARMEN DE APICALA, Colombia (AP) - Colombian police arrested two U.S. soldiers for alleged involvement in a plot to traffic thousands of rounds of ammunition - possibly to outlawed right-wing paramilitary groups, authorities said Wednesday.

The two soldiers were detained during a raid Tuesday in a gated community in Carmen de Apicala, 50 miles southwest of the capital and near Colombia's sprawling Tolemaida air base, where the detained soldiers worked and where many U.S. servicemen are stationed.

National Police chief Gen. Jorge Daniel Castro said officers stopped a suspicious man in the area, who offered a bribe to be allowed to go free. Under threat of arrest, the man led the officers to a nearby house where more than 40,000 rounds of ammunition for assault rifles, machine guns and pistols were found, officials said.