A US Drug Enforcement Administration agent was stabbed to death Friday in Bogota while fighting off an apparent robbery attempt, Colombian police and US officials said. Agent James "Terry" Watson was a 13-year veteran of the DEA who had served on dangerous counter-narcotics missions in Afghanistan before deploying to Colombia, the DEA said in a statement.
It said Watson was murdered in an apparent robbery attempt in Bogota. Colombian police said he had dined Thursday night in an upscale area of the Colombian capital and in the early hours of Friday caught a taxi in which he was apparently abducted. The agent put up a fight and was stabbed five times then dumped out of the car. He later died in a hospital, Colombian police chief Jose Roberto Leon said.
"These are the worst days for anyone in law enforcement and we grieve Terry's loss," DEA administrator Michele Leonhart said in the statement. Colombian president Juan Manuel Santos said "this crime will not go unpunished." Colombian authorities have offered a reward equivalent to $26,000 for information leading to the identification of whoever was responsible for the agent's death. Watson was assigned to the DEA office in the Colombian city of Cartagena and was in Bogota on a temporary assignment, the DEA said.