Three arrested in Bolivia for double murder of Brazilians near Santa Cruz airport
Three men, two Brazilians and a Bolivian, have been remanded in custody for 180 days for the murder of two Brazilian citizens in Valle Sánchez, Santa Cruz.
Remand in custody for those accused of double homicide in Valle Sánchez
Three men accused of shooting dead two Brazilian citizens near Viru Viru International Airport entered Palmasola prison on Monday with preventive detention for 180 days, according to infobae.com. The measure was adopted at a bail hearing following the arrest of the suspects.
The double killing took place on 20 October at a property in the Aqualand residential area, in the Valle Sánchez zone, north of Santa Cruz de la Sierra. Two armed men, with their faces covered and dressed in military clothing, entered the house and opened fire on the victims: Jefferson Pereira Penariol, 46, and Wendeles Álvez Espinosa, 29. Both died from multiple gunshot wounds.
The police general commander, Adrián Álvarez, identified the detainees as Enrique A. J. and Daniel G. M., both Brazilian nationals, and Marco Antonio R. S., a Bolivian citizen. All three were presented by the authorities as the presumed perpetrators of the attack.
According to the police report, the two Brazilian victims would be linked to the First Command of the Capital (PCC), one of Brazil's major criminal organisations, and had criminal records in that country for drug trafficking, membership of criminal structures and contract killing.
During raids linked to the investigation, officers found two nine-millimetre calibre firearms and 16 bullets that are believed to have been used in the crime. A vehicle with features modified to hinder its identification was also seized.
A Paraguayan woman who was in the house at the time of the attack was similarly arrested after investigators detected inconsistencies in her statement.
According to police investigations cited by the newspaper El Deber, the crime could be related to clashes between the PCC and the Comando Vermelho, the two most powerful criminal organisations in Brazil. The main hypothesis being pursued by the Bolivian police is a settling of scores linked to drug trafficking.
The case is part of a surge in violence recorded in Santa Cruz and other regions of the country. In the second half of the year so far, at least 34 executions have been counted, most in the Santa Cruz department, according to a count by Infobae based on reports from local media outlets. So far this year, the authorities have launched at least four security plans to reinforce surveillance in response to the increase in contract killings, without the initiatives having managed to halt the succession of attacks.
Jorge Santistevan, the Santa Cruz Governorship's Secretary for Public Safety, stated in an interview with the state television channel that the department is "ravaged by insecurity and by the fear being generated by these criminal organisations linked to drug trafficking", and announced reinforcements to police surveillance.
Source: Google News BO — Crime