BOGOTA - Colombian police said Wednesday it had captured a key leader of the Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia (FARC) guerrilla group, who is believed to be responsible for kidnapping four Chinese nationals in June.

The police said in a statement that it "in the last few hours" had arrested "Francisco Molano, alias Lechonero, head of the support structures from the Teofilo Forero Column" group, an elite military wing of the FARC.

Molano was arrested in the southern province of Caqueta and is alleged to have been "commissioned to carry out espionage aimed at kidnapping the four Chinese contractors" of the local Emerald company, an affiliate of China's state-owned Sinochem in Colombia, the police said.

It said that the rebel leader had planned details of the kidnapping operation through gathering data on the whereabouts and activities of the Chinese in addition to "collecting extortion money from merchants and farmers" based in Caqueta.

The four Chinese were snatched on June 8 and are believed to be still held by the FARC in an unknown remote part of the jungle. No information has been released about the hostages since their capture.

The FARC, Colombia's largest rebel group, has been at war with the government since its establishment in 1964 and is notorious for kidnappings for ransom or political demands.