Four empty suitcases belonging to Marset found in La Paz: Public Prosecutor charges police captain
The suitcases removed from Sebastián Marset's home in Santa Cruz were found empty at GEAT facilities in La Paz. The Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating their contents and chain of custody.
Suitcases from Marset operation found empty in La Paz police facilities
Four suitcases removed from the home of alleged drug trafficker Sebastián Marset during his arrest in Santa Cruz were found empty at the facilities of the Special Group for Tactical Actions (GEAT) in La Paz, reported El Deber. The Public Prosecutor's Office is investigating who transported them to the seat of government, what they originally contained and what happened to the objects that would have been inside.
Prosecutor Gabriel Gutiérrez confirmed on Wednesday that the suitcases were discovered during a search carried out by a commission of prosecutors, police investigators and crime scene personnel. The procedure was conducted following a statement by police captain Guillermo Junior Ruiz Guzmán, who indicated that the suitcases could be found in that unit.
The search was conducted with permission for voluntary entry and not through forced entry, Gutiérrez clarified. The four suitcases were stored in an area that functioned as a storage room inside a gymnasium at the police facilities.
The objects were incorporated as evidence in the investigation file. However, the prosecutor clarified that verifications must still be carried out—among them the analysis of security recordings—to confirm whether they actually correspond to the suitcases taken from Marset's property.
"What we need to establish precisely is this hypothesis that was being circulated by the media about the existence of large sums of money, jewellery, watches," Gutiérrez explained. The original contents of the suitcases have not been confirmed.
The prosecutor also indicated that during the operation a safe was observed, but that object was not found in the search carried out in La Paz.
Captain acknowledged removing one of the suitcases
The discovery came after captain Ruiz declared to the Public Prosecutor's Office that he had removed one of the suitcases from Marset's residence during the operation on 13 March 2026. According to his account, he acted on instructions from his superiors and was unaware of the contents of the objects.
Gutiérrez indicated that the Public Prosecutor's Office must verify this claim and determine the participation of each official who intervened in the procedure.
The prosecutorial commission preliminarily identified former national police intelligence director, Colonel Óscar Fernando Moreno, as the official who would have supervised Marset's capture procedure. Lieutenant Colonels Marcelo Ferrufino and Correa would have operationally directed the interventions at the two properties. Regarding Lieutenant Ortega, mentioned as responsible for the police unit, the Public Prosecutor's Office still must establish whether he participated in the operations, so it requested reports from the General Command of the Police and other bodies.
The investigation began on 23 October and, for the moment, inquiries are concentrated on the officials who participated directly in the procedures.
Public Prosecutor seeks six months pre-trial detention for Ruiz
The Public Prosecutor formally charged captain Guillermo Junior Ruiz Guzmán with the alleged crimes of embezzlement, breach of duty, theft, extortion and passive bribery. It also requested his pre-trial detention for six months at the Qalahuma social reintegration centre, given risks such as danger of flight and obstruction of investigation.
Ruiz was apprehended in Sucre and transferred to La Paz to appear before a cautionary judge, who was to determine his legal status.
His lawyer, Zuleika Lanza, argued that her client acted under instructions from his superiors and questioned the investigation's focus on the suitcases. Lanza proposed that the objects could be linked to another case and announced that she would request analysis to determine their origin and possible connection with other investigations.
The Public Prosecutor's Office clarified that it does not currently sustain that hypothesis and that the contents and origin of the suitcases form part of the pending proceedings.
Investigation into chain of custody and handling of evidence
Gutiérrez explained that the investigation is not limited to the alleged removal of the suitcases. It also seeks to establish possible irregularities in the handling of items removed from the residence, the absence of records and inventories and the possible failure by police officials to file reports.
Among the planned proceedings is obtaining the original recordings from security cameras of the operation. The prosecutor indicated that the videos circulated publicly are fragmentary and must be subjected to verification and expert examination to reconstruct what occurred.
Gutiérrez also clarified that Sebastián Marset is not currently listed as a subject of proceedings in this investigation, so the Public Prosecutor's Office is analysing whether it is appropriate to carry out any proceedings to determine the contents of the suitcases and the safe.
The Public Prosecutor neither confirmed that the objects removed during the operation were deposited in the Central Bank of Bolivia. The four suitcases found were collected and stored as evidence in police facilities.
The investigation must establish who ordered and executed the removal of the objects, what happened to their contents and whether there were criminal liabilities in the handling of evidence during the operation that resulted in Marset's arrest in Santa Cruz.
Source: El Deber