Wednesday, January 18, 2023 | 5:00 a.m.
A routine, random procedure; a tinted car and a group of men obviously drunk. What seemed to be one more control of those who presented Saturday night throughout the province ended with the arrest of four subjects with criminal records and weapons, in addition to the discovery of what would be the plan for an assault.
The sequence described occurred in the town of Puerto Rico, last Saturday around 1:40 in the morning. The Radioelectric Command carried out a routine patrol called “Reinforced Crime Prevention Operation” until something caught their attention on Línea de Paraná and San Luis streets.
A Volkswagen Gol occupied by four men had parked moments before and two of them got out with beers in hand. The police commission returned and proceeded to identify him.
The occupants of the Goal were noticed in a drunken state, said the sources consulted. For this reason, they were detained and the uniformed officers proceeded to carry out the corresponding actions to seize the car, since the person driving was not in a position to do so.
Until then it was a violation.
The driver of the vehicle was identified as Claudio S. (19), who was accompanied by Orlando N. (27), Guillermo G. (18) and Fabio B. (50). Later it was established that they all have various backgrounds on their backs and to the point that they are known by the local troops.
However, during the visual inspection, the uniformed officers noticed that there were two firearms located in the back seat, hidden. It was later determined that it was a long .32 caliber Doberman revolver with two cartridges and another Tumbera type with a .22 caliber barrel and also with a cartridge in the chamber.
In view of this, the authorities of the local Investigating Court One were given intervention, who ordered that everyone be arrested for in principle illegal carrying of weapons and that the vehicle be transferred to police headquarters.
Although, that was not all. Yesterday, magistrate Manuel Balanda Gómez ordered that the vehicle be thoroughly inspected, an instance in which a freehand-written paper was found that activated the alarms and revealed an alleged criminal plan.
The paper, as revealed to El Territorio by sources with access to the file, was a sketch of a property, with all the characteristics that it was a company. It was expanded that it was neatly done and it was noticeable where all the spaces were, where some vehicles and even two trees were located.
“Enter here.” “Enter here.” They were some of the notes.
The two weapons had their corresponding ammunition.
The investigators quickly traced, based on the weapons and background of those involved, that the procedure prevented a very large blow, which could have been very violent and even ended badly. However, until then they did not know for sure what the target was.
With the possibility that it was a company, the investigation continued and the uniformed officers began to inquire about the relationships and movements of all the occupants of the Goal. And finally yesterday this had positive results when they found an oil shop located on former route 2.
The owner of the enterprise ended up confirming that the driver of the vehicle was his worker and that he had hired him to do a favor to his relatives, who wanted him to stay away from bad habits and vices, the sources consulted said. “As long as he works, he’s going to be fine with me,” were his words when hiring him.
However, everything indicates that his company was the target of the gang, since the sketch is clearly a plan of his establishment and even the investigators were surprised by the amount of detail it had. They ran into the aforementioned trees -two pines- and learned that the place marked “enter here” was the main office.
One more piece of information: the businessman mentioned that in recent weeks he had been able to pay his workers’ fees and bonuses, so everything indicates that this movement of money could be what motivated the criminals.
On the other hand, yesterday the suspects were transferred to the Court to complete the corresponding investigative hearing. As learned, two of them appointed an official defense attorney, while the other two appointed a private attorney. One of the latter duo – who was in the back of the car – decided to testify, although he did not refer to the weapons and the sketch.
All were charged with illegal carrying of weapons and the records are awaited to establish whether an aggravating circumstance does not apply. For the moment, since it is not known whose weapons they were, all will continue to be detained while waiting for the magistrate to define the requested releases.
Police and judicial investigations continue to try to find more details or elements. All with the certainty that the insight of a police commission that stopped a vehicle possibly ended up avoiding a major robbery.
