The investigation of the Ertzaintza in the case of the allegedly violent deaths of several men in Bilbao has "ramifications" outside the Basque Country, and even abroad.
The Deputy Lehendakari and Basque Security Councilor, Josu Erkoreka, explained this Monday in the regional Parliament that clarifying these crimes, which occurred between September and October 2021, will require a "long and complex" process in which several police forces collaborate.
For this case, Nelson David MB, a 25-year-old Colombian, is in preventive detention, accused of an alleged consummated homicide, two attempted, and investigated for three more deaths that may be related.
Erkoreka has been extremely cautious in reporting this matter due to the secrecy of the legal case and in order not to prejudice police action.
Since the suspect turned himself in on May 5 at the Irun police station (Gipuzkoa) after seeing his name and face published in some media, the complaints filed with the Mossos d'Esquadra by various people who contacted 2020 with the arrested via dating apps for gay men.
According to these testimonies, the defendant tried to drug them to rob them (the same pattern that was found in the four deaths under investigation in Bilbao).
The deputy lehendakari has said that the Ertzaintza suspects that Nelson David's crimes are not limited to Bilbao, as had initially been considered,
The magnitude and complexity of the case have forced the Ertzaintza to share information with other police forces: "There has been, there is and there will be police coordination," said Erkoreka, who rules out the creation of a "joint investigation team" at the moment, as raised the parliamentarian of the PP Luis Gordillo.
Police coordination takes the form of "information incorporated into shared databases and a bilateral and direct relationship with other bodies", although the counselor has not specified which police officers are coordinating with the Ertzaintza.
Erkoreka recently reported that the detainee for these crimes had entered Spain from Belgium.
The Ertzaintza has managed to "prove" some of the evidence found during the investigation, but there are still loose ends to be tied up, according to Erkoreka.
Basque police officers searched the home of one of the possible victims for two days.
Izquierda Unida reported last week that the house that had been inspected belonged to Koldo Martínez, 53 years old and former councilor of Elkarrekin Podemos in Berango (Bizkaia).
His body was found inside the apartment at the beginning of September last year and the autopsy concluded that it was a natural death.
Erkoreka has been cautious in qualifying whether the motive for the crimes was economic or there was a component of hate in the murderer's actions: "The Ertzaintza is compiling as much information as possible to determine in its final rating if there could have been an aggravating factor of hate", has stated.
The investigation focuses on a man who contacted his victims, all men, through a dating social network: he drugged them and managed to extract the passwords from their bank cards, and then withdraw money from their accounts at ATMs and make transfers. to your name.
In his appearance, Erkoreka has expressed his concern about the leaks that have occurred in this case.
His department has opened an investigation to identify the authors of these information leaks because they represent a "very serious offense" and can "harm and disrupt" the development of the investigation, which is under summary secrecy.