Jujuy police officer expelled from Bolivia returns to Argentina after seven days missing
Officer Maximiliano Martínez, found in La Paz with disorientation and amnesia, was formally expelled by Bolivia and handed over to Argentine authorities in La Quiaca.
Martínez returns to Argentina following formal expulsion from Bolivia
Jujuy police officer Maximiliano Martínez, 30 years old, was expelled from Bolivian territory and repatriated to Argentina, according to todojujuy.com. The measure ended a seven-day search operation involving dogs, drones and police personnel on both sides of the border.
The expulsion was carried out by Commander Erick Rebollo, chief of the Border Police in Villazón, Bolivia. Rebollo confirmed that Martínez entered the neighbouring country through an unauthorised crossing, committing an irregular exit and entry across borders, which prompted the administrative measure.
The officer's family filed a formal complaint on Thursday 10 September, three days after Martínez was last seen on Tuesday 8. Initial searches were concentrated in La Quiaca and Villazón without results.
The decisive breakthrough came through technological means. Prosecutor Alberto Mendívil, from the Public Prosecution Service (MPA), coordinated technical examinations that made it possible to detect the IMEI code of the officer's mobile phone and trace its activations to the city of La Paz.
With that information, Bolivia's Police deployed patrols in the area and located Martínez in the vicinity of Plaza Mercedario, in the El Alto district. At the time of contact he was wearing a blue jacket, walking alone and showed a state of disorientation and retrograde amnesia: he stated he did not remember how he had arrived at the place nor the events of the previous days.
Due to his clinical condition, the officer was transferred urgently to the Policía Virgen de Copacabana Clinic in La Paz, where he received medical assistance while his identity was officially confirmed.
Both Prosecutor Mendívil and the Bolivian authorities highlighted that coordination and real-time information exchange between the forces of both countries were decisive in finding Martínez alive. His parents followed the operation minute by minute.
Once discharged and with migration procedures completed under the supervision of Commander Rebollo in Villazón, the officer was handed over to Argentine authorities at the border crossing with La Quiaca.
Back on Argentine soil and with his family, the courts and police of Jujuy are continuing legal proceedings to determine the causes and circumstances that led to his transfer to Bolivia.
Source: Google News AR — Crime