“We work with the police, the commander gives us 20 minutes to hit there”: recording of a criminal gang involves the head of an IAC in Barranquilla

At a court hearing against 20 alleged members of the criminal gang 'Los Costeños', in the city of Barranquilla, the Attorney General's Office, revealed a recording that Otón Alfredo Peralta Estupiñan, designated leader of this organization with a merchant from the same city, who would have been victim of extortion.

In a phone call, the victim, who is the administrator of the store 'La Estación' in the San Roque neighborhood, would have asked Peralta what were the new shops they were extorting from. In the middle of the conversation, the criminal would have revealed details of how the band had been operating in the vicinity of the south of the city of Barranquilla and the neighboring municipality of Soledad.

It is commented on the payment of the head of an Immediate Attention Command (CAI), specifically that of Costa Hermosa, to give them 20 minutes to be able to commit crimes of murder in the area.

For its part, the Metropolitan Police ruled and commented that this recording was obtained in a judicial investigation in June 2021 and that what was “expressed by this alleged offender was not verified at the time by the investigative bodies, which is why there are no criminal investigations against officials of the institution”.

In addition, the Police declared that “the current commander of CAI Costa Hermosa was not in office at the time the audio was recorded” and that “he highlights his actions in favor of citizen security and coexistence, which has also been recognized by the community.”

They were denounced by the FTP Consortium, the former legal representative and suppliers of the Hotel El Prado for a detriment of about 10 billion pesos. According to the authorities, a total of 5 complaints were filed by the Consortium, who is the current operator of El Prado.

Fraud, procedural fraud, breach of trust, falsehood in private documents, and aggravated theft are the crimes of which Jaime Espinosa is accused, after audits after his departure. Also among those alleged to be involved is Carlos Hidalgo, who was responsible for the contracts and outsourced all the companies that were reported by the FTP Consortium.

Bianith Bohórquez, who is the legal representative of the Consortium, said: “The contracts had not been fully fulfilled and what had been estimated for one thing did not end up being and that was incurring more expenses. Multiple audits were carried out and these findings were determined,” he also pointed out that the detriment has been coming since 2017.

“That was delivered, what has been affected is the assets of the investor and the Consortium that is responsible for the award of the contract by Hotel El Prado,” Bohórquez said, stressing that despite the detriment and possible delay, there is no danger to the Hotel's investments.

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