A London arrest has brought a shocking international case to light, as a businesswoman faces accusations of poisoning two Colombian schoolgirls with chocolates tainted with thallium.
Zulma Guzman Castro, 54, is alleged to have caused the deaths of 14-year-old Ines de Bedout and her friend, 13-year-old Emilia Forero. The girls tragically passed away in a Bogota hospital, just days after consuming the contaminated fruit on April 3 of last year.
Castro, who had been the subject of a global manhunt since departing Colombia on April 13, was unexpectedly discovered in the United Kingdom. She was rescued from the River Thames near Battersea Bridge in West London on December 16.
Renowned for her role on the Colombian version of “Dragons’ Den,” Castro is accused of committing the murders as an act of revenge. This alleged act followed the ending of a clandestine six-year affair with Ines’s father, Juan de Bedout, which began in 2014 and concluded shortly before his wife’s passing.
Following her dramatic rescue from the Thames, Castro has been confined to a psychiatric unit. Today, she was formally arrested in London and is set to appear for an extradition hearing at Westminster Magistrates’ Court.
A spokesperson for the National Crime Agency stated, “Zulma Guzman Castro, aged 54, has been arrested today by officers from the NCA’s National Extradition Unit (NEU).”
‘Castro, who is wanted by the Colombian authorities in relation to murder and attempted murder, was arrested in W10 area of London. She is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court this afternoon.’
Last month, it emerged that Castro had reportedly given her location away after drinking Buxton water during a TV interview. The alleged double killer was spotted drinking from the British water brand during an interview with Colombian TV, where she broke her silence to deny the allegations.
Zulma Guzman Castro is accused of killing Ines de Bedout, 14, and her close friend, Emilia Forero, 13, after they died in hospital days after eating the poisoned sweet treat in Colombia on April 3
Ines de Bedout (left) and Emilia Forero died days after they were poisoned by the raspberries
The former Colombian Dragons’ Den star had a relationship with Ines’s father, Juan de Bedout (pictured), between 2014 and 2020
Zulma Guzman Castro drinks from a bottle of Buxton mineral water during an interview, which may have given away her location in the UK
A source said: ‘The bottle of water she drank from was Buxton Natural Mineral Water, a product mainly commercialised in the UK.
‘The size of the bottle she was drinking are sold in street shops, which would indicate Guzman is in an apartment or house and not in a hotel.’
An Interpol Red Notice to find Castro was issued last month, with authorities warning the fugitive had visited Brazil, Spain and the UK since leaving Colombia.
It’s understood Castro came to Britain on November 11 and the National Crime Agency were actively hunting for her.
She said in a message while on the run: ‘I find myself in the middle of a very serious situation…where I’m being accused of having been the person who sent a poison that killed two girls.
‘They accuse me of having fled to Argentina, and then to Brazil, Spain and the UK. Those who know me know I haven’t fled anywhere. They know I’ve been working in Argentina and began a masters in journalism here.
‘I went to Spain more than a month ago, with a stopover in Brazil, and then to the UK because of my son.
‘I imagine they’re accusing me because I had a secret relationship with the father of one of the girls.’
Castro denies the killings and claimed in an interview: ‘I was Juan de Bedout’s lover for so many years, and I think I’m practically very easy to implicate in that.’
In December, an agonising social media post was published by Emilia’s devastated father Pedro Forero.
Pedro, speaking shortly before it emerged Colombian prosecutors had a suspect for the horror crime, said: ‘Fourteen years ago, a life of hopes, joys and dreams began; a life that filled a family, a father and a mother.
‘But it wasn’t just the joy of someone else’s life; it was the beginning of the life of an excellent human being who had dreams, hopes and goals.
‘As a father, it is incomprehensible to think that someone was capable of taking this away.
‘She did not just take away my dreams, my desires and my prospects in life as a father; she did not just take away my opportunity to be a father-in-law, grandfather and everything else one can be as a parent.
‘She took away my daughter’s opportunity to be a girlfriend, a professional, a wife, a mother and a daughter.’
The girls were reportedly spending time at a swanky apartment in Bogota, Colombia, with an older brother and another friend after school when they ate the fatal desert, said to have been laced with the highly dangerous poison.
The colourless, odourless and tasteless substance is commonly used in the manufacturing of electronics, optical lenses, semiconductors, alloys and radiation detection equipment.
It was allegedly injected directly into the raspberries before being sent to the girls on April 3 this year. Ines and Emilia are reported to have died four days later, according to Colombian media.
