Police officer accused of burglary gang activity refuses to testify in Mar del Plata
Nahuel Agustín Paz, a suspended police officer detained at Batán Penal Unit 44, refused to testify before prosecutor Moyano regarding his alleged involvement with a burglary gang.
Suspended police officer detained in Batán refuses to give statement to prosecution
Nahuel Agustín Paz, the suspended police officer charged with being part of a band dedicated to burglary, refused this midday to testify before prosecutor Mariano Moyano. According to mi8.com.ar, the hearing took place following a new complication in his legal situation, resulting from an additional charge added to the case.
Paz has been held at Batán Penal Unit 44 since his detention for an incident that occurred in March. The prosecution office headed by Moyano has now linked him also to a second robbery, committed during the early hours of 2 June.
Role as liaison with internal communications
According to the investigative hypothesis, Paz would have acted as a link between the criminal organisation and police communications, facilitating access to radio frequencies to anticipate the movements of officers and guarantee impunity for the robberies.
For this second incident, he was charged as co-perpetrator of quintuple-aggravated robbery: committed in an inhabited area and as part of a gang, by forced entry, with breaking and entering and with use of weapons. These aggravating factors are compounded by the alleged participation of a member of a security force.
Additional charges and scope of investigation
The prosecution also attributes to him breach of duties as a public official, failure to promote prosecution of criminals and unlawful possession of civilian-use firearms.
Investigators are additionally assessing whether the police communications to which Paz would have had access were used to benefit other criminal gangs beyond the organisation involved in the 2 June robbery. This line of inquiry would widen the scope of the case.
The element that investigators consider especially grave is the alleged use of internal force information to cover up criminal activity. The case does not only aim to reconstruct the robbery facts, but to determine whether there was operational cover from within the police system.
Paz's refusal to testify adds a new chapter to an investigation that has already accumulated two legal fronts and that now seeks to establish with precision the real scope of his participation in the organisation.
Source: Google News BO — La Paz