Luis Diaz's father released 12 days after being kidnapped in Colombia

The father of Liverpool star Luis Diaz has been returned safely to his family after almost two weeks as a hostage.

Luis Manuel Diaz was kidnapped on Saturday October 28 along with his wife, Clienis Marulanda, in their homeland of Colombia by armed men on motorcycles.

Mrs Marulanda was found shaken but safe hours later but Mr Diaz has remained with the kidnappers since and a huge search and rescue mission involving well over 200 members of the police force has been underway for close to a fortnight.

The Diaz family's van was ambushed at a petrol station and from there 'operation padlock' was launched by the police to return the Liverpool attacker’s parents and after the roads out of La Guajira were closed to deny the exit of the assailants. Mrs Marulanda was eventually found in the Carretalito district.

Mr Diaz, who is known affectionately by his family as 'Mane', has been held captive by the National Liberation Army of Colombia (ELN) before he was peacefully returned on Thursday.

There were concerns initially that Mr Diaz had been taken across the border to nearby Venezuela but he was eventually released unharmed in a mountainous region that separates the two countries.

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A helicopter carrying representatives of the Catholic Church, including the Bishop of Riohacha, Francisco Ceballos, and a delegation from the United Nations took off from the Alfonso Lopez airport in Valledupar on Thursday heading for the Serrania del Perija, which is a mountain range between Colombia and Venezuela.

It has been reported that the rescue operation took around three hours and