30 October 2023 , 22:28
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Luis Diaz has been urged not to travel to Colombia as the military searches for his kidnapped father.
The Liverpool striker, 26, was told it was for his safety, according to a source close to the family. His parents were snatched at gunpoint near their home in Barrancas on Saturday.
The couple had been filling their truck with petrol when thugs on motorbikes hijacked the vehicle and drove it towards mountains in the north. His mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was later rescued.
No criminal organisation has yet taken responsibility but ministers said they aim to block the gang from reaching Venezuela, amid fears they were trying to cross the border. Friend of the family Victor Medina told journalist Jose Hugo Illera that Luis’s brother, Gabriel, was leading the search. Mr Illera reported that Luis had been advised by family and authorities not to travel.
William Rene Salamanca Ramirez, of the national police force, said on Sunday that he had spoken to the worried footballer by phone. There is a £40,000 reward.
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On Monday, Colombia's attorney general, Francisco Barbosa, insisted he believed that Diaz's father could've been taken to Venezuela already. He told reporters: "We have information that he could, at some point, be in Venezuela.
"If he ends up crossing the border and he's in Venezuela, we have to ask [Colombia] President Gustavo Petro... to help us with freeing Luis Diaz's father."
The Liverpool star with his mother and fatherContact has now been made with the authorities in Venezuela, with more troops set to be deployed to patrol the border.
Colombia's football federation have also issued a plea to those who had kidnapped Diaz's father. “We ask the captors of Luis Manuel Diaz, father of Luis F. Diaz, to release him immediately, without conditions," their statement said. "Football is peace. Luis, we are with you. Colombia is with you.”