Gastón Leturia
08/02/2020 - 0:06
- Clarín.com
- Police
The pandemic and the quarantine due to the coronavirus that forced it to apply to the population forced to change customs and left phenomena in some cases new, in others old, but recycled.
One of these phenomena, which is counted among the most mysterious, is that of trucks that transport money across the country and that were detected mainly by the National Gendarmerie, which is in charge of carrying out controls en route.
The cases, which until the pandemic were not unpublished but were very isolated, began to repeat with increasing frequency. However, today there is no single hypothesis about the origin of money or values, which in recent days added a new player: gold in bullion format .
Until the last hour of July, the total report indicates that 79,455,661 pesos have been retained . It arises from the sum of 60,136,336 pesos and $ 257,591, which at the official exchange rate of 75 pesos gives 19,319,425.
Two million Argentine pesos were carried in a truck.
That is why both the Ministry of Security of the Nation and the Office of the Attorney General of the Nation (specifically in the Directorate of Criminal Analysis and Planning of Criminal Persecution) are beginning to analyze the phenomenon as a whole.
The idea is to try to determine if the seizures of money respond to the same logic, although at the moment there is nothing to indicate this. At least, this was explained to Clarín Eduardo Villalba, Secretary of Security of the Nation.
"This is a novel phenomenon, which started about a month ago. We were struck because there was one case behind the other. The money hijacking is not like the hijacking of the contraband cigarettes, which made the cases more visible. during the quarantine, but the truth is that they always existed. In the case of money, all the references we have consulted agree that it is something new , "Villalba told Clarín .
"Starting in the last week, we noticed that the number of reports decreased and we attribute this to the fact that precisely the controls were increased and it is seen that the people who moved money began to do less," added the official.
Money seized in an operation in Santiago del Estero.
-Are you planning to do a comprehensive investigation?
-For now, the cases are filed in different courts and it is the judges who take the line of investigation. There is still nothing centralized in Justice or in the Procurement. There is no single or firm hypothesis. It should be borne in mind that the kidnapping of money is something that occurs in controls that were not ordered with that specific objective: there was no prior indication from the Ministry to seek money, nor did the kidnappings come from previous investigations. That is why there is still no certain data on the origin of the kidnapped money.
-Is there an initiative to unify the analysis of the cases?
-This came to light with the pandemic. So we started monitoring. The specific area that is dealing with the subject is the National Directorate of Criminal Investigation. The direction has two areas, that of Federal Crimes and that of Economic Crimes. Both can contribute in this case. An analysis of the reports is being done, because it is indeed something new.
-Are there any specific hypotheses about the origin of money?
- Many things are said, but the truth is that there are no indications that it is a phenomenon with a single logic. There is no line of investigation that contacts the different kidnappings of money. To this day, there is nothing to indicate that these money movements respond to a single organization, of any kind.
Gold began to appear in currency hijackings on Argentine routes.
-Are you concerned about this phenomenon?
-For the time being it is not something that gives us much concern. Of course, if signs begin to emerge that this money is related to criminal organizations, they are payment for drugs or something similar, that is something else. But now there is no indication that this is something like a narcomenudeo payment line, for example. It is under analysis, it is too early to relate it to other modalities.
Most of the operations were in the direction of Buenos Aires. Therefore, one of the hypotheses is that this "black silver" (the one that moves in pesos) has origins in illicit businesses and that the idea is to "invest" it in other types of securities, such as dollars or gold.
Another version indicates that it is money that comes from merchants who, when shopping tours are interrupted, send the money so that the suppliers send them the products in the same transport.
The Gendarmerie found a driver at the Piedritas Toll in Corrientes $ 36,000 and 58,100 pesos.
The point is that this type of maneuver does not have a legal framework that allows defining when it is a crime and when it is not. At first glance, moving around with a large sum of money and not being able to explain the origin is unclear. But even in the face of understandable justification, security forces can actuate and retain those values. Then the Justice will evaluate if you suspect a possible cause of evasion or laundering. But at the same time there is a legal vacuum in the matter.
To leave the country, the limit is $ 10,000. There is no limit to enter, provided the origin and destination are justified. But this problem of recent times refers to an internal movement of money that has no regulation. Everything is at the discretion of the judge and the security force that is in the operation.
A reference, as an example, may be Spain. You can enter or leave the country with a limit of 10,000 euros. And move within the Spanish territory with up to 100,000 euros. That regulatory framework would help in Argentina.
The series of kidnappings began in early June and until the last day of July, 26 were registered, with a single case not intervened by the Gendarmerie and carried out by the City Police on July 16.
19th of June. A truck in which two men were traveling and was carrying sugar from Tucumán to Buenos Aires was stopped at a checkpoint on Route 34. When checking the cabin, boxes with wood-paper envelopes were found. There were 11,974,100 pesos.
2) June 10. At kilometer 496 of RN 34, in Santiago territory, the gendarmes controlled a bus that made the route from San Salvador de Jujuy-Retiro (City of Buenos Aires). Upon inspection, they observed that a passenger was carrying envelopes of money among their belongings. He carried 2,661,780 pesos.
3) June 11. In a control also on 34, agents of the "Senda Hachada" Section of Squadron 52 of Tartagal, who carried out controls on kilometer 1375, stopped a truck in which a driver and companion were traveling to Buenos Aires. When they searched the cabin, they found several boxes hidden under the bed, under the seats, and in a backpack. In all of them there were wooden paper envelopes with money. They were 3,838,000 pesos.
4) June 14. At kilometer 680, a few meters from the entrance to the city of Fernández, on route 34, about 50 kilometers south of the capital of Santiago. It was that of the Fiat Iveco truck and the 10,974,340 pesos in envelopes.
5) June 17. A truck going from the north of the country to Buenos Aires was detained at Colonia Dora on RN 34 (180 km south of Santiago) and in the cabin they found 3,400,000 pesos that the driver could not justify. Unlike on previous occasions, a form was found in which it was stated to whom money should be delivered and the amount was discriminated.
The operations are common, but the kidnapping of money grew remarkably.
6) June 19. The operation was carried out by Squadron 7 "Paso de los Libres" that were deployed on kilometer 536 of RN 14, in the access to the Corrientes town of Tapebicuá. A total of 1,588,096 pesos were found in a truck with a semi-trailer, which was traveling from Misiones to Entre Ríos.
7) June 19. In the province of Chaco, agents from Squad 1 “Roque Sáenz Peña” who were at kilometer 175 of RN 16 stopped a Mercedes-Benz truck for a routine procedure. The vehicle transported packages of pine and eucalyptus from Corrientes and to Jujuy. Under the bed in the driver's cabin, they found a burlap bag, which in turn contained another but a green nylon type. Then the gendarmes opened the bag and found a rain pilot, which involved 700,000 pesos.
8) June 22. At the Paraje Senda Hachada fixed point, at kilometer 1,375 of RN 34, at the height of Salta. The gendarmes stopped a Volvo SH560 truck and upon inspecting the cabin, in the torpedo sector, they found 2,000,000 pesos. The truck driver, of Argentine origin, could not justify that money. The case is processed in the Federal Justice of Oran.
9) June 23. The procedure was carried out at kilometer 1123 of RN 14, where the headquarters of Squadron 12 is located and a fixed control post. The Scania truck circulated in ballast (without cargo) from the city of Eldorado to Dionisio Cerqueira, Brazil. During the search they came across a box of whiskey that was full of stacks of money: 1,000,000 pesos, mainly in high-denomination bills. As the trucker did not have any documentation to prove the origin of the sum, the forfeiture was carried out and a case for money laundering was initiated.
The 700 grams of gold found were valued at almost 6 million pesos
10) June 24. 1,000,000 pesos that were transferred in the rear compartment of a motorcycle were seized by the Gendarmerie in the Salta city of Salvador Mazza, on the border with Bolivia. Agents from Squadron 61, with the support of Mobile Detachment 5, made a foot patrol and stopped the march of a Brava motorcycle, in order to carry out the corresponding controls. Officials found that a black nylon bag containing the cash was in the drawer at the rear of the vehicle.
11) June 30. The operation was carried out by agents of Squadron 52 "Tartagal" of the National Gendarmerie at kilometer 1443 of RN 34, near the access to the Virgen de la Peña Sanctuary. The agents, upon inspecting the car, a Renault Clio, found the $ 50,000 under the driver's seat without supporting documentation.
12) June 30. In another operation, the GNA seized 1,142,230 pesos that were being transported hidden in a Ford F-100 pickup by the RN 14. The agents of the 7 Paso Squadron of Los Libres "Cabo Misael Pereyra" were making controls on kilometer 536 of the RN 14 near Tapebicuá and inspected a vehicle in which two people were traveling, going from Misiones to Villa Elisa (Entre Ríos). The occupants (a man and a woman of Argentine nationality) were released subject to the cause. None could justify with documents the origin of the money, although they did declare that it had been obtained through the sale of footwear.
13) July 2. National Gendarmerie seized a total of 28,100 US dollars, 63,000 Argentine pesos and 80 Bolivian pesos that did not have the corresponding documentation. The event took place in the province of Salta. Agents from the “Caraparí” Road Section under Squadron 61 "Salvador Mazza" were carrying out controls on RN 34, at kilometer 1,482, when they stopped the march of a van driven by a man of Argentine nationality. Most of the money was under the bellows that covers the gear lever.
14) July 5. GNA seized 36,000 dollars and 58,100 pesos that were transferred by a man who was going to the province of Entre Ríos. This procedure was developed at the Piedritas Toll (Corrientes). Agents from the "Monte Caseros" Section of the 7 Paso de Los Libres "Cabo Misael Pereyra" Squadron made checks on kilometer 363 of the RN 14. In this case, the silver was in several pockets of the vest that the man who was wearing was wearing. I was driving the vehicle.
15) July 8. Gendarmerie seized $ 50,000 undeclared in Formosa. The operation was carried out by Squadron 16 "Clorinda" while they carried out patrols near the water containment barrier, in the "Big Bag" neighborhood. There, they stopped the march of a remis, occupied by two people. When they inspected the car, the gendarmes saw two packages wrapped in black nylon with two bundles of dollars under a jacket located on the handbrake.
16) July 10. GNA agents from Squadron 52 "Tartagal" inspected a truck at kilometer 1,443 of National Route 34 in which two occupants were traveling with 2,180,000 pesos in a black bag.
They kidnap 50 thousand dollars that a sender had hidden in a jacket in Clorinda, Formosa.
17) July 10. Also at kilometer 1,443, the gendarmes detected that the driver and his companion of a semi-trailer truck were carrying, in a hidden way inside their pockets and hood, about $ 9,000.
18) July 10. The Gendarmerie found 34,161 dollars, 21,930 pesos, 2,000 Chilean pesos and 419,000 undeclared Guaraní in Formosa. The silver was found inside a truck during an operation of Squadron 16 "Clorinda" on National Route No. 11, at kilometer 1,286, at the control of "Gendarme Fermín Rolón." The Paraguayan sheet metal vehicle was going to Chile.
19) July 12. In Salta, gendarmes from the "Senda Hachada" section dependent on Squadron 52 "Tartagal" kidnapped 1,134,850 pesos traveling in six packages inside the armrest of a truck.
20) July 12. Agents from the “Puerto Velaz” section, which depends on the Nucleus 15 Squadron “Bajo Paraguay”, controlled a truck of a postal company that went from Formosa to Corrientes, at kilometer 1103 of National Route 11. When passing it through the scanner, the agents saw that he was carrying two boxes with 128,080 pesos.
21) July 15. The Gendarmerie seized $ 2,349,500 pesos during a routine check-up of the Nucleus 15 Squadron “Bajo Paraguay”. The silver went in two parcel transports of the company “Demonte”, with a route to Formosa-Corrientes, although the final destination was the City of Buenos Aires. With a scanner they detected that in 15 small boxes all the money went.
Formosa. 2,349,500 pesos were sent by parcel. They were hidden in 15 packages that were transported by two transports from a parcel company.
22) July 16. Officials of the City Police identified a motorcyclist who had more than 20,330 dollars and almost 9,650 pesos that he could not justify in a control on Corrientes and San Martín avenue. The man was arrested and his silver was seized.
23) July 18. In a control over kilometer 1,465 of National Route 34, gendarmes from Squadron 54 "Aguaray" identified two vehicles parked on the shoulder. In one of them there were 3,535,500 pesos and in the other 30,000 dollars without declaring.
24) July 19. A man carried 957,600 pesos in the glove compartment of a VW Saveiro that was controlled by the Gendarmerie in an operation at the junction of National Route 34 and National Route 81, in Salta.
In an operation in Salta they found money hidden in a black bag.
25) July 20. Two gold bars, valued at almost six million pesos, were seized when they were smuggled aboard a truck from Paraguay. The discovery occurred when agents from the Fermín Rolón control post carried out a control at kilometer 1,286 of national route 11, in Formosa.
26) July 29. Gendarmes of the Road Safety section "Head of Ox" dependent on the Squadron Nucleus 45 "Salta", controlled a semi-trailer with fruits and vegetables at the junction of National Routes No. 9/3 and National Route No. 16. Inside, in the cabin Located on the bunk bed, a nylon bag containing cash for a sum of 1,518,510 pesos was hidden.
GL
