![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/download-18.png\")
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/2023-agripac-facebook-page-shows-866772889.jpg\")
\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/pole-dancing-colmbian-girlfriend-uk-867321412.jpg\")
<\/p>\nBRIT millionaire Colin Armstrong has been rescued by cops after being snatched in Ecuador.<\/p>\n
The businessman, 78, was kidnapped in the early hours of Saturday at his ranch in Baba,\u00a0Los Rios province, by 15 men disguised as police.<\/p>\n
\n
\n<\/p>\n
On Wednesday Cesar Augusto Zapata Correa, Ecuador's police chief, tweeted that Mr Armstrong had been found on near Manabi – not far from Los Rios where he was snatched.<\/p>\n
"Our units released citizen Colin A., kidnapped a few days ago in Los Rios. At the moment he is safe and healthy," Cmr Correa wrote.<\/p>\n
The official X account of Ecuador's national police on Wednesday morning also retweeted a picture appearing to show Colin with two officers, with the message: "#SinTreguaAlDelito" (#NoTruceToCrime).<\/p>\n
Cops said nine people had been arrested.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday, Colin's pole-dancing lover reappeared at his son's house wearing a bomb vest.<\/p>\n Katherine Paola Santos was abducted with her wealthy Brit boyfriend\u00a0on Saturday.<\/p>\n But 24 hours later she was reportedly seen at the home of his son Nick who helps run the family\u2019s\u00a0agricultural supplies\u00a0firm in\u00a0Ecuador, in a taxi wearing the device.<\/p>\n Police\u00a0were alerted and a bomb disposal team raced to the scene.<\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n <\/span><\/p>\n A video emerged appearing to show an operative carefully removing the vest from Santos.<\/p>\n The terrified woman then flees to safety as the bomb disposal expert pulls off the apparent device.<\/p>\n Fitness fanatic Katherine is being questioned by cops over the kidnapping, her apparent release and whether she was forced to wear the explosive vest by the people who snatched Colin.<\/p>\n Katherine was identified as the woman in the video by Colombian news outlet El Heraldo.<\/p>\n And meanwhile, Ecuadorian outlet Ecuavista said the woman in the video is the "one who was with the businessman during the kidnapping".<\/p>\n The footage was also shared on Ecuadorian TV.<\/p>\n Local politician Ricardo Vanegas told The Sun that the glamorous Katherine\u00a0is now being quizzed by cops.<\/p>\n Colin\u2019s neighbour\u00a0Luis Carpio Ramos\u00a0said: \u201cI hope that God touches the\u00a0hearts\u00a0of those people so that they release him soon and we have him back.\u201d<\/p>\n Colin, a UK Honorary consul in Ecuador until 2016, is a popular figure in the area where locals called him \u201cMr Colin\u201d.<\/p>\n Fellow local Alberto Alvarado added: \u201cThe\u00a0news\u00a0took us by surprise, no one imagined that they would do that to him.\u201d<\/p>\n The couple were said to be driven away in Colin\u2019s black\u00a0BMW.<\/p>\n Cops initially\u00a0managed to activate satellite tracking of the vehicle which showed it was being driven south towards\u00a0Guayaquil, the largest city in Ecuador, but they eventually lost track of it.<\/p>\n Local reports say\u00a0British intelligence was involved in the hunt for Colin.<\/p>\n The Foreign Office previously said: \u201cWe are in contact with the Ecuadorean authorities following the disappearance of a British man and are supporting his family.\u201d<\/p>\n Photos of Mr Amstring and Katherine show the pair looking loved up on holiday.<\/p>\n The lover had shared the snaps all over her\u00a0Instagram, which now appears to have been deleted, and show the couple in front of the\u00a0Hollywood\u00a0sign and pyramids in\u00a0Egypt.<\/p>\n Other images show the pair snuggled up after a swim in the ocean, and dolled up to nines at an event.<\/p>\n Cops are investigating the kidnap at Rancho Rodeo Grande, thought to have taken place at around 2.45am local time.<\/p>\n One local report said the raiders were wearing police uniforms as disguises.<\/p>\n Another video said to be circulating on social media appears to show the aftermath of the raid with signs of a forced entry, along with traces of blood and ransacked rooms.<\/p>\n A woman filming inside takes close-up shots of broken plates on the floor and a man who appeared to be holding a bandage to his head.<\/p>\n She then walks into one of the bedrooms where blood covers the bed before saying: \u201cThis is where they hit him. My God what is this.\u201d<\/p>\n Mr Armstrong's daughter has also now come forward, pleading for information on his disappearance.<\/p>\n Diana Armstrong-Bruns told\u00a0MailOnline: "This is a critical time, we\u2019ve been told not to say anything to anyone.<\/p>\n![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/DD-armstrong_COMP-1.jpg\")
<\/picture>KIDNAP MYSTERY <\/span><\/p>\nMissing Brit's 'lover reappears with BOMB VEST after being sent for ransom'<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/newspress-collage-da4nolkxd-1702979003964.jpg\")
<\/picture>'CRITICAL TIME'<\/span><\/p>\nBrit millionaire's daughter's plea for missing dad as son flies to Ecuador<\/h3>\n
Most read in The Sun<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/PM-SPORT-PREVIEW-ASH-MOBILE-SPOTY-Red-Carpet.jpg\")
<\/picture>DRESS TO IMPRESS <\/span><\/p>\nMary Earps wows in lacy see-through outfit as SPOTY winner steals the show<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/TM-Cheryl-v2_COMP.jpg\")
<\/picture>\u2018DISGUSTED\u2019 <\/span><\/p>\nAgony for Cheryl as grandparents\u2019 gravestone is ‘knocked down’ by council<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/newspress-collage-2e2uu2ros-1702995702943.jpg\")
<\/picture>COUPLE TRAGEDY\u00a0 <\/span><\/p>\nHusband, 59, and wife, 54, are found shot dead inside home in quiet village<\/h3>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/Close-call-GIF1.gif?strip=all&w=300&h=192&crop=1\"\/)
<\/picture>CLOSE CALL <\/span><\/p>\nShocking moment car flips over & ploughs into path of mum pushing child in pram<\/h3>\n
Read more on The Sun<\/h2>\n
![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/12\/newspress-collage-cck03dz7j-1702974210102.jpg\")
<\/picture>![](\"https:\/\/www.thesun.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2023\/11\/NINTCHDBPICT000859826374.jpg\")
<\/picture>