others). Approximately 800 men under the command of Jhon Jairo Velásquez, alias "Popeye", former lieutenant of Pablo Escobar. When Popeye's men found out about Ospina's intention, they executed him. The event triggered the operation led by the paramilitary chief of patio 5 known as Cadavid. Faced with the impotence of the prison guards and knocking down walls and bars with the use of grenades, the paramilitaries entered yard 4. Wearing black armbands and the initials AUC, they demanded that Popeye's protégés surrender. Only 42 did, those who refused were shot. The National Police of Colombia, who had not entered the prison for 15 years, decided to take it at dawn the following Saturday. An arsenal was seized that included four kilos of high-powered explosive and seven charges of dynamite. However, 4 days later, guards from Instituto Nacional Penitenciario y Carcelario (INPEC) entered a yard in the prison and captured a sub-machine pistol Ingram MAC-10 plus a pistol capable of tricking the X rays, amongst other weapons. Pistols and hand granades were also found, wrapped in plastic bags and hidden in the walls or buried. Additionally, 17 inmates held in patio 4 were declared missing. According to the Committee for Solidarity with Political Prisoners, there were indications that the prisoners used tunnels and sewers to hide the bodies of the disappeared. However, both INPEC and the Cuerpo Técnico de Investigación (CTI) of the prosecution service and the police denied the existence of such graves. Most of the victims were wounded with a firearm and some with a knife. Their ages range from 23 to 43 years old. Other incidents In 2016, the dismembered remains of at least 100 prisoners and visitors were found in drain pipes at the jail. On 21 March 2020, at least 23 prisoners were killed and 83 injured during a riot which erupted amid fears over spreading of SARS-CoV-2 through prison walls during the COVID-19 pandemic. Prisoners across the country were protesting against overcrowding as well as poor health services ever since the outbreak of COVID-19. See also Tuluá prison riot References External links Battle Behind Bars. Discovery Times Channel. 28 May 2006. Alain Juen, La Modelo: Un Français dans l'enfer d'une prison colombienne, Robert Laffont Prisons in Colombia Buildings and structures in Bogotá