Maria Laura Balonga
06/30/2020 - 17:52
- Clarín.com
- Police
Monday, June 29. Pasaje Aráoz y Cabildo, in Piñeyro, Avellaneda. The gray Chevrolet Cobalt driven by Federal Police Petty Officer Gustavo Catania (51) had parked just a few minutes ago. His boss, the commissioner in charge of the PFA's Automotive Subtraction division, Damián Merchán (48), had already gotten off and was with the owner of a junkyard he was going to see to collect part of a bribery that in total amounted to at 50 thousand dollars .
The extortion victim was standing next to a truck from which boxes of wine were coming down, in front of the blind of a distributor. Merchán went to him without knowing that his colleagues from Buenos Aires were in hiding, observing everything and waiting for the right moment to arrest him .
The commissioner helped them to stop him without problems: it was when he decided that, in addition to the bribery, something else was going to take away that afternoon from Aráoz and Cabildo, according to sources in the case that Clarín confided .
"I arrange to unload the truck and I'm already with you ," said the owner of the disarmadero, who days before had denounced the extortion of the Federal commissioner before the prosecutor Guillermo Castro, of UFI No. 4 in Avellaneda, and that he he lent bait to catch the corrupt police red-handed.
- What is the cargo? Asked Commissioner Merchán interested.
- Nicasia wines, from the Catena Zapata winery.
-Ahh, I love it. So, in addition to what you have to give me, separate two boxes that I take with me .
The bribery dollars that the Federal commissioner had received, arrested for extorting the owner of a disarmadero in Avellaneda.
Words more or less, that was the dialogue that the sources rebuilt and preceded the payment of 2,900 dollars and 40,000 bribes that Commissar Merchán demanded of him so as not to ' invent ' a search of the disarmament.
After collecting the money, the police put a box of wine under each arm and left for the Chevrolet where Sergeant Catania was waiting for him, who, according to sources, "would not be involved in the police officer's spurious operations."
“It was the driver who touched him in luck that day. He was not in contact with the money, he did not get out of the car ... There is no evidence to incriminate him, for the moment, "they explained on Tuesday. He was released.
With Merchán walking with the two boxes of wine under his arms, those from Buenos Aires took advantage and rushed to arrest him. The commissioner, who had his hands full, did not resist .
Thus they arrested the commissioner of the Federal Police for a cause of extortion.
In their possession they found the money that the prosecutor Castro had previously photocopied to follow up on the serial number of the tickets and that he had given to the owner of the gunsmith who had started the complaint to pay the bribery.
This Tuesday, while in court they are waiting for colleagues of the whistleblower from other arms dealers who have been victims of extortion to appear to reinforce the case , Merchán was face to face with the prosecutor Castro.
In his defense, the police chief dissociated himself from the fact and, although he admitted that he knew the owner of the disarmadero, he assured that he went to see him for a personal, non-professional or labor matter.
The analysis of the phone of the arrested commissioner, who was kidnapped during his arrest, will be key to the investigation.
According to the complaint, the now-former head of the PFA's Automotive Subtraction division was not alone when he demanded a bribery from the owner of the disarmadero.
The gray Chevrolet in which the commissioner arrived at Avellaneda to collect extortion.
But his accomplice was not the driver who led Merchán into the trap on June 29, but another police officer that investigators are trying to identify.
For now, the former head of PFA's Automotive Abduction division - who spent his first night as a defendant in a case labeled " extortion " in a cell at a Quilmes agency - was not only photographed when he received the bribery on Monday 29 and was caught with money in his pocket: the prosecutor in the case has videos that the complainant presented.
One of those videos is from one of the first encounters. According to the complaint, in principle, Merchán and his unidentified accomplice had asked him for 50 thousand dollars so as not to invent a search of his disarmament.
Last Friday, when it was time to pay the first installment of $ 500 , the victim filmed the transaction. That also appears in the cause.
EMJ
