Two men suspected of involvement in the March 25 death in French Guiana of gendarme Arnaud Blanc were arrested by Brazilian police as they tried to flee to the country, the French gendarmerie said Monday (May 22nd).
These arrests took place Friday on the Oyapock River, which marks the border between the French department and Brazil, told AFP the command of the gendarmerie of Guyana. "The investigations are continuing, there will surely be other people to hear," he added. "A request for cooperation is being transmitted between the judicial authorities of the two countries," the same source continued. The suspects, aged 28 and 32, were remanded in custody in Brazil. "The interception prevented their escape to the Ztats of Para and Maranhão," Charles Corrêa, delegate of the civil police of Oiapoque, a Brazilian city opposite Guyana on the Oyapock River, told AFP.
The arrest took place as part of Operation Horus, conducted by the police of both countries to combat illicit activities on the French-Brazilian border, said the French gendarmerie. The major of the National Gendarmerie Intervention Group (GIGN) Arnaud Blanc, 35, was killed on March 25 in the commune of Maripasoula, French Guiana, during an operation to combat illegal gold panning. Friday's two new arrests bring to six the number of suspects apprehended in the case, including the alleged shooter, who was arrested two weeks after the crime in the same area.