Man killed in Mercedes was member of network dismantled in Operation Jaguar
A 34-year-old man linked to Operation Jaguar was shot in the head in Mercedes, Soriano. Police are investigating whether he was silenced by his own accomplices.
Drug network member executed in Mercedes, dismantled in Operation Jaguar
A 34-year-old man identified by the initials R. M. B. R. was murdered by a gunshot to the head in the early hours of Wednesday in the city of Mercedes, department of Soriano. According to montevideo.com.uy, the victim was identified as a member of the criminal organisation dismantled in Operation Jaguar. The incident occurred around 1:00 in a property on Blanes Viale street between 19 de Abril and Rivera, a premises known in the neighbourhood as the Boca de La Capilla due to its proximity to the Pío X chapel.
The man was originally from Montevideo and had arrived in Mercedes with the group dismantled under that operation, carried out by the Departmental Anti-Drugs Brigade, sources from the case told the portal. He was not detained during previous raids because he was not at the location when the procedures took place. In the Cerro de Mercedes neighbourhood he was known as Mojarra, and it is estimated he had been renting the property where he was killed for approximately two months.
Investigators are working to determine the exact circumstances of the homicide. The hypothesis being considered by police circles is that the man may have been silenced by members of the same criminal underworld, either as reprisal or to prevent him from collaborating with the courts.
Operation Jaguar resulted in the conviction with loss of liberty of 13 people—including adults and minors—and in the charging with preventive detention of the two heads of the organisation. In the hours before the homicide, the Anti-Drugs Brigade also detained a minor from Montevideo, who was placed at the disposal of the Public Prosecutor's Office, according to local media Agesor and confirmed to montevideo.com.uy by sources in the Ministry of the Interior.
The property where the crime occurred has a history of repeated raids for operating as a drug sales point. The premises had been raided again as part of Operation Jaguar a few days before the murder.
Source: Google News UY — Montevideo