Nine alleged members of Los Nacionales, an organized criminal group that would be involved in counterfeiting, were sent to prison. of national currency on a large scale and the subsequent marketing to citizens in general, commercial establishments, and in the public transportation service in different cities of the country.
“These people were captured in proceedings carried out jointly with the Dijín of the National Police in Pereira, Risaralda, and Medellín, Antioquia. In the procedures, 920 million pesos in counterfeit bills of 20,000, 50,000 and 100,000 pesos were seized; in addition to a sealing machine, a craft press, guillotines, quick-drying inks, imported paper, threads, holograms and security seals, among other elements used to give the appearance of authenticity to the currency,” the Prosecutor’s Office said.
Among those detained are María del Pilar Aguirre Atehortúa, who would be in charge of coordinating the production of banknotes of different denominations. in a property in Pereira, which operated under the façade of a printing business; and his daughter, Evelyn García Aguirre, who is credited with receiving the money for the distribution of the counterfeits, through the use of virtual wallets.
Others captured are Jairo Eudoro López Castañeda and Oswaldo Toro, those allegedly in charge of graphic arts, lithography and printing.; and José Obdulio Becerra Largo, Fernando Perilla, Carlos Humberto Sánchez Correa, Juan Pablo Rodríguez López and Jaime Harold Durango Rodríguez, designated distributors of the tickets to owners of commercial establishments and transporters. The shipments were made to different cities as book parcels to try to evade the controls of the authorities.
A prosecutor from the group against counterfeiting of currency of the delegate against organized crime charged Los Nacionales, the crimes of conspiracy, counterfeiting of national or foreign currency, and trafficking in counterfeit currency. The charges were not accepted.
