Former federal agent led gang that attempted to rob bank branch in Baradero
A 59-year-old man, previously linked to national security forces, was captured along with ten accomplices accused of planning a tunnel robbery against a banking entity in the Buenos Aires municipality.
Former federal agent led gang that attempted to rob bank branch in Baradero
A former member of the federal forces, 59 years old, was detained last Sunday as the suspected leader of an organisation that was planning a tunnel robbery against a bank branch in Baradero, province of Buenos Aires. The operation resulted in eleven people being arrested and the seizure of weapons, protective vests and vehicles.
The main suspect was apprehended near 1:30 in the morning in the vicinity of Boedo and Santa María de Oro, very close to the Banco Provincia that they intended to attack. He was travelling in a Volkswagen Amarok pickup truck covered in mud alongside a 26-year-old woman of Paraguayan nationality. Moments later, investigators raided his residence in Moreno, where they discovered an FAL assault rifle, a bulletproof vest and a Toyota Hilux pickup truck that had a seizure order.
At the same time, another ten members of the group were intercepted on Route 41 in the same municipality. They were travelling in a Fiat Iveco pickup truck and a Renault Duster. The gang of robbers were carrying drilling tools, an endoscopic camera and containers for removing soil. Among those arrested were a publicist from Buenos Aires, a 65-year-old textile merchant with a history in penal institutions and a 63-year-old citizen originally from Uruguay.
The plan consisted of digging from the deposit of a neighbouring hardware store to the bank's vault. However, the criminals triggered a security device that activated the alarm before they could access the money. The provincial force had already been keeping them under observation in the days prior, having even placed adhesive tape on the suspected leader's vehicle to identify it.
The judicial investigation is being handled by Federal Court number 2 in Morón, with the intervention of magistrate Jorge Rodríguez. According to sources close to the case file, the case originated following an anonymous communication handled by the local police themselves.
The history of the main detainee includes a previous episode in which he collaborated with the justice system as a protected witness in a case that resulted in the removal of a prosecutor in San Isidro accused of fabricating false drug cases together with corrupt officers. On that occasion, his statement was subsequently questioned by the Federal Chamber of San Martín, which in 2022 reduced the charges against the former judicial official.
Source: Infobae
Source: Google News AR — Crime