Five active detectives investigated for extorting the Chen Clan in Santiago
The PDI's Internal Affairs department and the Prosecutor's Office are investigating five new detectives in active service for being part of a gang that kidnapped and extorted Chinese citizens linked to the Chen Clan.
New detectives under scrutiny for kidnapping and extortion of the Chen Clan
Five detectives from the Police of Investigations (PDI) in active service are being investigated by Internal Affairs and the Supranational Prosecutor's Office for allegedly being part of a gang dedicated to kidnapping and extorting Chinese citizens linked to the Chen Clan, according to infobae.com. The Chen Clan is an international network accused of defrauding US citizens from Chilean territory, partially dismantled in January of this year following an FBI alert.
The investigation had already led to preventive imprisonment for three former detectives—Superintendent Pablo Gajardo Romo, Inspector Rodrigo Navarrete Umaña and police assistant Sebastián Gajardo Rojas—along with former prosecutor Vinko Fodich. All face charges of criminal association, kidnapping, extortion, illegal possession of weapons and ammunition.
Of the eight detectives involved in total, seven belong to the Criminal Investigation Brigade of La Pintana, in Santiago, and one to the Forensic Laboratory of La Serena, 470 kilometres north of the capital.
The kidnapping that dismantled the gang
The origin of the case was the kidnapping of Chinese citizen Mingkai Fu and his sister Mingxia Fu, which occurred on 6 August. According to a report by T13, which infobae.com had access to, the operation arose from a multimillion-peso debt that the Chen Clan owed to their financial adviser, Ángelo Stevens, who had been introduced to the group by former prosecutor Fodich himself.
Stevens told investigators that an acquaintance of both, identified as Stefano Andreotti Parada—with a record for international drug trafficking—offered him a "squad of police officers" willing to collect the debt by force. "He said they could handle the collection. I asked him how they did it and he said they had rented a place, which was set up as a PDI facility and where they could sort everything out (...) There were 8 PDI who worked with him," Stevens detailed according to what is recorded in the investigation file.
A false detention with police scenery
The operation was mounted with precision: Sebastián Gajardo Rojas drove a Kia Sportage with which he simulated the detention of Mingkai Fu, transferring him to a property on José Miguel Carrera street in Santiago equipped as a false police station. In parallel, Superintendent Pablo Gajardo and Inspector Rodrigo Navarrete went to the home of Mingxia Fu—sister of Mingkai and partner of the clan leader, Yongjie Chen—to take her to the same place.
Other participants fulfilled disguise roles: the civilians Luis Moraga and Ángel Herrera acted as fake detectives, civilian Claudio Navarrete posed as an FBI agent, and Stevens and José Ignacio Pinto pretended to be detained. Detectives Javier Correa Quiroga and Juan Cares Gutiérrez, now also implicated, would have completed the staging by turning on the beacons of a vehicle parked in front of the building where Mingxia Fu passed.
Fodich simulated helping the victims
Fodich, who had previously acted as defender of the Chen Clan and enjoyed the group's trust, simulated advising the victims by recommending they pay the 300 million pesos demanded. To increase pressure, the gang sent audiovisual recordings of the detained siblings to Yongjie Chen—alias "Michael"—reminding him that payment would guarantee their freedom at a hearing scheduled for August.
Finally, the kidnappers obtained a payment of 30 million pesos, equivalent to approximately USD 31,000. Fodich acknowledged receiving 3.5 million (USD 3,600), whilst the remainder of the haul was distributed among the civilians involved and the active detectives of the PDI, who shared approximately 10 million pesos (USD 10,500) for having provided cover for the false procedure.
Source: Google News CL — Crime