04/05/2021 15:16
Clarín.com
Society
Updated 04/05/2021 3:18 PM
A man was sentenced on Monday to
two years in
conditional
prison
for having made
false telephone threats
in February 2018
that warned of the alleged presence of
explosives in the ARA Salta
;
a submarine that was stationed at the Mar del Plata Naval Base.
In the same dock that until November 2017 used the ARA San Juan.
The calls had generated high concern at the Naval Base, especially among
the relatives of the crew members of the ARA San Juan
, who since the end of January of that year made
an intense vigil
in the place waiting for news of the ship that disappeared on November 15. previous.
The convicted person was identified as
Miguel Ángel Costa
(66 years old), who agreed to the sentence in an abbreviated trial with the prosecution and defense, which was approved by Judge Fernando Machado Pelloni, of the Oral Federal Criminal Court (TOF) 1 from Mar del Plata.
One of the tributes received by the relatives of the crew of the submarine ARA San Juan, found in December 2018. Photo: Fabián Gastiarena.
According to the ruling, it
was proven
that for three days: on February 1, 3 and 4, 2018,
Costa made anonymous calls from his cell phone
to the 911 emergency line, in which he reported on the alleged existence of a bomb on the ship ARA Salta.
"There is a submarine that they are fixing that is
going to blow up in fifteen hundred pieces,
" Costa falsely warned in those calls, according to the investigation that the federal prosecutor Nicolás Czizik and federal judge Santiago Inchausti intervened.
Although in all cases it was determined that they were threats regarding non-existent explosives;
On all three occasions it was necessary to
deploy the
corresponding
preventive protocols
by the Naval Prefecture and the Naval Establishment Police: both in the ARA Salta submarine and in the dock and its surroundings.
In turn, in line with the prosecution's accusation, it was taken into account that at that time, the calls generated concern at the Mar del Plata Naval Base.
Especially among the relatives of the 44 crew members of the ARA San Juan, who were waiting for news of the ship that had disappeared, and which was finally found sunk on November 17, 2018.
Flags of relatives in support of the 44 crew members of the submarine ARA San Juan that at the time hung at the Mar del Plata naval base.
Photo: DPA.
During the investigation, the intervention of the Public Threats and Intimidation Investigation Division of the Federal Police (PFA) made it possible to establish that the calls came from a house near Mar del Plata:
from Balcarce
, 60 kilometers from La Feliz.
The indications of triangulation of calls led to the identification of the author of the threats, and after a search of his home,
Costa was detained
by Federal Police personnel
on March 26, 2018
.
Although he was released a few days later, he was finally processed a month later without preventive detention, and the case was brought to trial, only in December 2018.
"The criminal guilt is evident from the evidentiary framework exposed, which, on the other hand, is consolidated with the free recognition of the fact and their participation that took place in the aforementioned hearing," said the sentence.
With information from Télam
DD
Look also
A man arrested for making bomb threats to the submarine ARA Salta