Three arrested for death threats against Pope Leo XIV during visit to Argentina
A 49-year-old man detained in Pilar will be interrogated on Tuesday for threatening to kill the Pope. Three mobile phones and a drone were seized from his residence.
Man interrogated for threatening Pope: drone and three mobile phones seized from residence
A 49-year-old man detained on Saturday evening in Pilar, Buenos Aires Province, will be interrogated on Tuesday before federal judge Adrián González Charvay in Campana for the offences of anonymous threats and public intimidation with terroristic intent. According to clarin.com, three mobile phones and a drone were seized from the accused's residence, items that drew the investigators' attention.
The court ordered the devices to be examined to establish which one was used to make the threat and to determine the characteristics of the drone. The results are expected before the interrogation hearing scheduled for Tuesday.
The threat to 911 and the tracking operation
On Friday at midday, 911 received an anonymous call with a single phrase: "I'm going to kill the Pope". The operator attempted to ask questions, but the male voice cut off communication without responding. This occurred two days before Leo XIV's arrival in the country, when the Supreme Pontiff was still in Uruguay, the first stop on his tour of Latin America.
The call triggered an alert in the Federal Police's Anti-Terrorism Division, which located the origin of the call in Pilar. The federal court in Campana then intervened, with jurisdiction over the area, and fiscal Sebastián Bringas opened a judicial case.
The judge ordered the involvement of the Anti-Terrorism Division, the State Intelligence Secretariat and the Directorate for Judicial Assistance in Complex Crimes and Organised Crime (DAJUDECO). Following intelligence work, antenna cross-referencing and call analysis, investigators reached a first address where the suspect no longer resided. The investigation continued to a residence in Villa Rosa, where he was located and detained.
The accused has no criminal record. "The investigation will determine whether it was an isolated threat from someone who may be anticlerical or something more organised," a judicial source said.
Second case: false documentation in Palermo
Also scheduled for Tuesday is the interrogation of a second man, 27 years old, detained on Sunday for circulating with false documentation in the area of the Monument to the Spanish, in the Palermo neighbourhood, where Leo XIV celebrated Mass before two million people.
When intercepted by City Police officers, the detainee identified himself as a volunteer firefighter from Vuelta de Rocha and presented a circulation authorisation. Officers verified that both the permit and the motorcycle registration were forged. Additionally, he was carrying various identification credentials and four communications devices.
Federal judge María Servini ordered his detention as incommunicado for falsification of public documents and public intimidation, and ordered the seizure of the motorcycle. The judge ordered a series of examinations to be carried out before Tuesday's hearing.
Third detainee in Bahía Blanca
Hours after the Pope's arrival in Argentina, a third man was arrested in Bahía Blanca accused of threatening to kill the Pontiff. The operation took place on Sunday evening at a residence at Cramer Street, number 700, in the Villa Libre Sur neighbourhood. The detainee was identified as Fabio Ariel Perrone, according to the La Brújula 24 website.
The operation involved the coordinated participation of the Anti-Terrorism Division and the Federal Police's Cybercrime unit. The proceedings were filed at Federal Court No. 2 in Mar del Plata, presided over by substitute judge Bernardo Bibel—who formally heads the Federal Court in Necochea—where Perrone was taken to be interrogated.
Source: Google News AR — Crime