Ten (10) of the alleged members of the criminal group were prosecuted. They would be responsible for pretending to be authorities and employees of a courier company to enter a commercial establishment and rob products valued at more than 1,000 million COP.

The investigative activities ordered by the Attorney General’s Office, after learning of a robbery on a jewelry store in Bucaramanga (Santander) on July 23, allowed the identification of the alleged members of the criminal group ‘Los Kilates’ and therefore, to understand the roles they played during the robbery that resulted in a financial loss of more than 1,000 million COP.

Based on the evidence obtained, a prosecutor appointed to the Sectional Office in Santander obtained arrest warrants against 10 people who were allegedly part of the illegal structure. These arrests were carried out by the National Police. The defendants were charged with conspiracy to commit a crime, qualified and aggravated theft, and illegal possession of firearms.

The defendants did not plead guilty to the charges and must serve a preventive detention measure in a prison by order of a judge. The decision involved: Humberto Vargas Montañez, Michael Benedict Chanchi, Jesica Valenzuela, José Manuel Gómez, Carlos Alberto Jiménez, Lino Elkin Zarate, Ángel Gabriel Díaz, Hugo Alejandro Sánchez, Diego José Rubiano and Jonathan Rodrigo Guillin Martínez.

The Office of the Attorney General established that ‘Los Kilates’ established a plan to rob the jewelry store. In this sense, armed men allegedly entered the store wearing uniforms for the exclusive use of the public force, pretending to be workers of a courier company. They allegedly intimidated and subdued the security personnel, and robbed the jewelry and other valuables. They then fled on high-performance motorcycles and hid the stolen items with the complicity of other possible members of the criminal group.

The information contained in this press release corresponds to the narration of the objective news provided by the officials in charge of carrying out 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.