Calls from Mariaca at Cantumarca Prison reveal new drug trafficking links in Bolivia
Interim prosecutor Urioste claims that Marset and Mariaca complemented each other in a criminal structure. Calls by the former prosecutor from prison uncovered connections in Bolivia and Brazil.
Urioste: Marset provided the force, Mariaca institutional power
Telephone calls made by former attorney general Róger Mariaca from Cantumarca Prison have made it possible to identify new links within the criminal network that would connect him to drug trafficker Sebastián Marset. This was revealed this Thursday in Sucre by interim attorney general José Armando Urioste, according to El Deber.
"One had the power of firepower, through organised crime, and the other had the power of structures within the Public Ministry," Urioste said. The official described that combination with a direct phrase: "Look at that trade-off, between a criminal and the prosecutor, an interesting combination".
Among the findings derived from wiretaps of those calls, Urioste mentioned the identification of the driver who performed security functions in Santa Cruz, as well as the location of new properties linked to straw men. "Those calls gave us a vision of Mariaca's closest links, some in Bolivia, others in Brazil," he specified.
As a result of ongoing investigations, several officials were apprehended, including police officers and prosecutors. Urioste stressed that new evidence emerges every day and that cases are advancing simultaneously on different fronts.
Asked about audio recordings involving the environment of the state president and his former adviser Fernando Cerimedo, the interim prosecutor indicated that any official who commits a crime will be investigated, regardless of whether they enjoy privileged processes. "The investigation is singular," he emphasised. To coordinate those inquiries, a commission of superior and departmental prosecutors was formed, and the creation of a specialised office to handle cybercrime offences was also announced.
Urioste advanced that next week the Public Ministry will present a consolidated report on the cases under investigation.
On another front, the interim prosecutor reported that he requested a report on vehicles seized at the national level, following complaints that high-end automobiles were circulating in Sucre in the hands of an official. According to data revealed by lawyer Edgar Arraya, between March and September of this year a vehicle of that type made fuel purchases at different petrol stations in the city. Urioste indicated that if the vehicle is not found in legal custody, it will proceed to its seizure and to the opening of the corresponding proceedings.
Source: El Deber