The Deputy Assistant Attorney General, Jorge Fernando Perdomo Torres during his visit in Cartagena reviewed the priority cases conducted by the Regional Office in Bolivar and he gave the results.
The first case is about the criminal gang Los Costeños where eleven people were arrested in Cartagena and two CTI officials were involved. The senior official stated that during an investigation conducted by the Attorney General Office and CTI officials for several months, it was possible to identify an organization involved in drug trafficking (…) this gang would be part of Los Rastrojos organization which was engaged in many drug trafficking actions.
It was possible to stablish that they belonged to this organization thanks to investigations regarding the case of three people murdered, such as Elvis Francisco Núñez Arévalo on July 17, 2013 in a farm so-called La Envidia in Turbaco (Bolívar), who was allegedly member of this gang.
These people were charged with aggravated conspiracy to commit drug trafficking offenses, manufacturing, possession and trafficking of drugs, and possession and trafficking of firearms or ammunition; as they allegedly supplied people with drugs in order to be sold and criminals with firearms, in the north area of the region.
The Deputy Assistant Attorney General Perdomo added “this is a one year investigation and we have a lot of information that has to be verified, but we are also investigating whether people from the Attorney General Office is linked to these facts and if they used resources from the Attorney General Office and other entities in order to commit these crimes.”
Another case under prioritization refers to Kellys Zapateiro, a pregnant woman who was dismembered on July 11. Perdomo said “this is a case that we solved in a record time; it was a successful case from the Attorney General Office since we clarified it. The woman was reported as disappeared on Friday. On Saturday a part of her body was found. Curiously, a woman allegedly gave birth in a hospital in a way that was not medically understood. Therefore, analysis and the corresponding DNA tests were carried out and it was possible to stablish that the newborn belonged to the person who was found dismembered. ”
He also emphasized “it is clear that this was an act which was premeditated for several months. We even detected that the person who went to the hospital to have a baby, had already supplanted the victim at previous times. This shows that it was a criminal plan that ended in a murder, disappearance, kidnapping. We continue looking for a police member who is allegedly involved in the case and we will continue exploring other criminal hypothesis.”
Regarding this process, the Attorney General Office denies the fact that more remains of the woman have been found. Therefore, it has not been established whether she was shot, and if the cartridge case found at the scene which belonged to the weapons of the officers at the Police Station in Manzanillo del Mar was fired at her. A preventive detention order was issued against Josefa Ortega Cardona in San Diego Prison in Bolívar pending indictment. In this case, it is not possible a plea bargain since the crime of forced displacement is considered a crime against humanity and a minor is involved, therefore any reduction of penalty will be granted.
The senior Official also said regarding Transcaribe case “we have already given some outcomes in these cases. We are investigating 700 changes of nomenclature of many properties. So far, we have identified seven alleged irregular cases of these seven hundred”. Three people were arrested: the former manager, the consultant and a person that according to the Attorney General Office hypothesis, they were moving fences of properties through which this mean of transportation passes. In other words, they were benefiting from adulterating the boundaries of the properties.
He finished saying that “it is an investigation that is going very well and is in progresses. At some point, It was associated with the Nule case, and today the respective charges were brought against three 3 people who will have to appear before the court for the charges of embezzlement by appropriation and execution of contracts without compliance of the legal requirements.
The Deputy Attorney General mentioned the arrest of five people who were engaged in procurement on the beaches of Cartagena. He said “it was possible to dismantle a network engaged in sexual trade of minors and adults thanks to operations conducted by CTI members and Prosecutors. I think, the most important thing here is to make an appeal to the citizens in general, citizens from Cartagena and tourists for denouncing these facts before the Attorney General Office. Cartagena cannot become a place for sex tourism. ”
He also announced that the Attorney General Office will conduct the necessary operatives in order to dismantle this network and added, ” this is a network but we know that there are more people trading with sex here in Cartagena and we are putting several people and several cases under the microscope. We will continue with the actions in order to carry out detentions and to ensure that Cartagena do not be stigmatized at nationally or global level as a tourist destination for sexual practices (…) The message to pimps in Cartagena is that we are breathing down their neck”.
Transcaribe: a transportation system