The police received information about a man offering pieces of meteorite for sale through WhatsApp, with a price of $1,500 per kilogram or its equivalent in Argentine pesos. The individual, a resident of Gancedo, but temporarily in Charata for work reasons, claimed to have around 15 kilograms of meteorite in his possession.
Given this revelation, a police operation was organized that involved the undercover purchase of the aforementioned celestial bodies, with an alleged buyer agreeing to a meeting point in Gancedo, near a Shell service station.
A police commission was deployed in Gancedo and personnel were stationed at strategic points. In the early hours of the morning, two individuals riding a 150 cc motorcycle were arrested. The detainees were 23 and 47 years old, the first identified himself as an “employee” and the other as a “changarín.”
According to the Chaco Police, in the operation 18 pieces of meteorite of different sizes and dimensions were seized, as well as a white burlap bag and a backpack with the inscription UATRE (Argentine Union of Rural Workers and Stevedores). The seized effects were searched along with the motorcycle, a Motomel 150.
The Criminal Investigation Prosecutor’s Office 1, headed by Elio Eduardo Mari, intervened in the case and ordered the arrest and accommodation of the detainees at the Gancedo Police Station, at the disposal of that judicial instance. Meanwhile, the seized effects remained in the custody of the Complex Investigations Division of the Interior of Charata, as a provisional judicial deposit.
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