bribery, illegitimate duress, theft, drug trafficking and illegal detention

“The discharge of these criminals is already being processed,” said Carabineros General Marcelo Lepín after 12 uniformed officers were arrested for the crimes of bribery, illegitimate coercion, theft, drug trafficking and illegal detention. Lepín also revealed that there should be 13, since one who is also a member of the Carabineros institution still needs to be arrested.

The “criminals,” as described by their superior, are members of the Second Police Station of Santiago, located in the República neighborhood, Metropolitan Region. Another of the accused belongs to the Third Police Station, blocks away from the Palacio de La Moneda. Most of the detainees are part of the Public Order Control Squad (ECO) who carried out their preventive control tasks in the Brasil, Yungay or Meiggs neighborhood.

Prosecutor Marcela Adasme, head of Criminal Analysis of the North Central Prosecutor’s Office, led the investigation and realized that this “squad of lack of control” had a deal with street vendors: payment of bribes, links to people with criminal records and with drug traffickers .

As revealed by La Tercera, the case involves a second lieutenant, a sergeant and the rest, corporals, of first and second grades. These groups were organized to go out to carry out checks. Sources from the aforementioned media reported that at the time of inspection, if the person had a record or was carrying drugs, money was requested to not report the complaint and the person was recorded as having “no record.”

However, the bulk of the squad’s support was in the Meiggs neighborhood, especially from foreign merchants. This neighborhood had previously been intervened for being the focus of violent events.

According to the information revealed by La Tercera, there is evidence that indicates that Chinese merchants paid this group of police officers a sum that amounts to up to $1.6 million per month. Until now, there are three suspects of Chinese origin who paid $4.8 million for security to the “lack of control squad.”

General Lepín stated in a press release that “there is no complaint that remains uninvestigated” and that there is “zero tolerance” for this type of act. Adasme assured that the defendants will have control of detention tomorrow.

The Undersecretary of the Interior Manuel Monsalve described this fact as “the utmost seriousness.” The reasons, because “first it weakens the confidence of Chileans in police institutions, but even more painful, it betrays the memory of martyrs of police officers who lost their lives protecting the safety of Chileans.”