Alias Lucas allegedly handled the Castaño brothers’ illicit resources and accounting matters and sponsored the death of a group of officials of the Office of the Attorney General who arrested him in April 1998.
The Office of the Attorney General arrested Jacinto Alberto Soto Toro, alias Lucas, for inquiry purposes, due to his alleged participation in the murder of three officials of the Technical Investigative Corps (Cuerpo Tecnico de Investigación CTI) which took place between 1997 and 1998 in Medellín.
Jacinto Alberto Soto Toro, alias Lucas, was the alleged financial and accounting chief of the paramilitary structure called “Casa Castaño.”
The operation was carried out in Barbosa (Antioquia) by virtue of a court order issued by a prosecutor appointed to the Transitional Justice Directorate who will determine the legal status of the detainee based on Law 600 of 2000.
The evidence shows that alias Lucas was the alleged financial and accountant chief for the structure known as “Casa Castaño.” This person was arrested by a special group of the CTI in April 1998, in a premise near the administrative center La Alpujarra, in Medellín.
In the place, the investigators found accounting books, invoices, bank statements and other documents that proved the illegal financial movements carried out by the Castaño Gil brothers. There are indications that the paramilitary organization allegedly ordered the assassination of the officials who participated in the procedure, as a way of retaliation and pressure against the judicial authorities to release alias Lucas.
The murders occurred between 1997 and 1998. Some of the victims were: the chief of Information and Analysis of the Technical Investigative Corps (CTI) of the Office of the Attorney General in Antioquia, Manuel Guillermo López Umaña; and investigators John Jairo Ruiz and Luis Fernando González Jaramillo.
The Office of the Attorney General makes this information public for reasons of general interest.
The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out the criminal investigations within the Office of the Attorney General. By the time this communication is disclosed, the legal status of the people mentioned is still pending to be resolved by the competent judicial authority, always under the presumption of innocence contemplated by Article 29 of the Political Constitution and Article 7 of Law 906 of 2004.