Dozens of guards were arrested on suspicion of complicity.
Through Le Figaro with AFP
A hundred prisoners, mostly members of the largest gang of arms and drug traffickers in Brazil, escaped Sunday from a prison in Paraguay through a tunnel, apparently dug with the complicity of the guards, announced the authorities. They are about a hundred Paraguayan and Brazilian prisoners, mostly members of the Primer Comando de la Capital (PCC) organization.
Police spokeswoman Elena Andrada said the escape was worthy of a thrilling action movie. “They built a tunnel as we can see in the films, with interior lighting, from prison sanitary facilities“, She explained. “There are only 25 meters between the tunnel and the nearest gatehouse“, She added. “It is a work of several weeks. Obviously the staff knew and did nothing“Justice Minister Cecilia Perez said in press statements about the tunnel.
The authorities announced the dismissal of the director of the prison establishment as well as the arrest of dozens of guards. “There is a strong suspicion that officials (working in the prison) were involved in a system of corruptionAdded the minister, adding that the fugitives, 92 of whom have been counted so far, are “extremely dangerous“. In particular, men who had participated in a massacre between rival gangs at the San Pedro prison on June 16, 2019, escaped, during which ten prisoners were beheaded, said the spokeswoman.
Five vans in which some of the escapees fled were found burned to Ponta Pora, on the Brazilian side of the border area. The Paraguayan city of Pedro Juan Caballero is separated from Ponta Pora by a bordering avenue.
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