Former Felcn Intelligence Chief Sent to Prison for Theft During Marset Operation
Juan Marcelo Ferrufino, former director of intelligence for the Felcn, was sent to preventive detention for six months on suspicion of theft of suitcases during the operation against Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset.
Former Felcn Intelligence Director Detained for Irregularities in Marset Operation
Bolivian courts have ordered six months of preventive detention for Juan Marcelo Ferrufino, former director of intelligence for the Special Force to Combat Drug Trafficking (Felcn), according to infobae.com. The measure is being taken as part of an investigation into the alleged theft of suitcases containing money during the operation in which Uruguayan drug trafficker Sebastián Marset was captured in March of this year.
Ferrufino was transferred to Patacamaya prison in the department of La Paz, where he will remain while the case proceeds. The Public Ministry charged him with five alleged offences: embezzlement, breach of duty, theft, extortion, and passive bribery.
The former police chief took part in the operation carried out in the early morning hours of 13 March in the Las Palmas neighbourhood of Santa Cruz de la Sierra, where Marset was arrested after years as a fugitive. The investigation alleges that Ferrufino was involved in the removal of several suitcases from the searched premises, a fact that was recorded in security camera footage later released by local media. According to the formal charges, the items were not included in the inventory or in the corresponding custody procedures.
The former director's defence denied all accusations. Defence lawyer Freddy Velásquez stated that during the hearing he presented arguments to prove that his client did not participate in the alleged events, but that the court did not take them into account. Velásquez announced that they would appeal the precautionary measure.
"Let us hope that in the coming hours a court reviews and overturns a decision that we consider unjust," the lawyer said, quoted by the Urgente.Bo portal.
The lawyer also warned that the imprisonment poses a risk to his client's physical integrity given his history as a police officer. "Many of the people, the cases that he dealt with, are among those held in preventive detention, convicted and sentenced, serving those sentences in different prisons across the country," Velásquez argued.
The defence also challenged the validity of the security recordings, noting that seven months had passed since the police intervention. It also indicated that the complaint was filed by an unknown person, to which the Ministry of Government later adhered, and that the arrest warrant was issued without prior notification to Ferrufino.
The former director was arrested on Friday and gave a statement to authorities until around one o'clock in the morning. The Office of the Public Prosecutor later formalised the charges and requested six months of preventive detention.
Marset, one of the most wanted drug traffickers in the region, was handed over following his capture to agents of the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) and expelled to the United States, where he currently faces charges for money laundering and drug trafficking.
Source: Google News BO — Crime