The prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, together with his wife Claudia Aguilera
Marcelo Pecci, a Paraguayan prosecutor known in his country for fighting organized crime and drug trafficking, was shot and killed on a paradise island in Colombia on May 10, while on honeymoon with the wife.
This Friday, five alleged perpetrators of the murder were captured in Colombia. Among them is the person who allegedly shot the prosecutor on the private beach of Barú, near Cartagena.
“In a joint operation of the Colombian National Police, the Colombian Attorney General’s Office and with the collaboration of the Paraguayan authorities, we’ve caught everyone suspected of being involvedincluding the perpetrator of the assassination of the prosecutor Marcelo Pecci “, Colombian President Iván Duque announced from Washington.
The president, who is on tour in the United States, said the suspects were arrested thanks to an “intelligence operation” and “meticulous work”, and anticipated that they will be brought before a judge to check the collateral. .
Duque did not disclose further details on the number and identity of the detainees, but promised that all the data “will be disclosed to the public” once examined by the judge.
Pecci was murdered on the island of Barú, in Colombia. Photo: EFE
The Colombian president said the authorities have “important and solid evidence” to accuse them and said that all those who participated in this “horrendous crime” will receive “what they deserve”. He also expressed his “solidarity” with the Pecci family and the Paraguayan people.
Duque made this announcement from Andrews Air Force Base, on the outskirts of Washington, from where he planned to fly to the city of Reno, Nevada to attend a US mayors’ conference.
The suspects would have received $ 120,000 for committing the crime, according to The spectator.
The Attorney General, Francisco Barbosa, said that the arrest would take place “through two search and search procedures, carried out between the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the National Police”.
In recent weeks, the director of the police, Jorge Luis Vargas, had slipped two hypotheses about who would give the order to kill Pecci, who They indicate delicate files in which the anti-mafia prosecutor advanced.
The transfer of the body of prosecutor Marcelo Pecci. Photo: AFP
“Two of the main investigations carried out by the prosecutor in Latin America were against the so-called First Capital Command (PCC) and the facility known as Point 50 in the south of the continent,” he said.
The CCP is a powerful Brazilian criminal organization that has deals with Iván Márquez’s FARC dissidents to smuggle drugs through Venezuela and the Amazon to the borders with Ecuador and Peru.
The crime of the Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci
Pecci, a well-known Paraguayan anti-Mafia prosecutor, was shot dead on May 10 on a beach in Barú, near Cartagena de Indias, where he traveled for his honeymoon with his wife, Paraguayan journalist Claudia Aguilera.
He was a specialized prosecutor against organized crime and experienced in the anti-drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist financing units of the Paraguayan Public Prosecutor.
In his country he had participated a series of high-profile casessuch as Operation A Ultranza, which investigated a colossal drug trafficking and money laundering scheme in the neighboring country, or a quadruple homicide in which one of the victims was the daughter of a provincial governor.
He had recently been in charge other investigations relating to organized crimesuch as a double attack on a music festival held this year, the disappearance of weapons from a government arsenal or the extradition of a Lebanese-Brazilian citizen accused of money laundering from drug trafficking.
He had also investigated the disposition of false documents to the Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho.
Claudia Aguilera cries beside the body of her husband, the Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, on the beaches of Barú.
He had married the Paraguayan journalist Claudia Aguilera on April 30, with whom he had traveled for his honeymoon on a beach on the island of Barú.
On May 10, the prosecutor was attacked by two people who approached the beach where the couple was on a jet ski. They opened fire from the water and fled. There were three hits.
The official was transferred to a health center, but he arrived dead. His wife, meanwhile, was not injured.
With information from EFE
Source: Clarin
