Bolivia has launched a major police operation to try to capture the Uruguayan Sebastian Marset, a suspected drug baron, wanted in his country, in Paraguay and in Brazil, as well as by Interpol and the American DEA, it has been said. learned on Sunday from an official source.
His name is associated with the assassination in Colombia of the Paraguayan anti-Mafia prosecutor Marcelo Pecci, in May 2022, as one of the masterminds of the crime.
According to the minister of the Bolivian (interior) government, Eduardo del Castillo, since Saturday “a series of searches” have taken place in the department of Santa Cruz, in the east of the country and on the border of Brazil and Paraguay, in the part of the research of Sebastian Marset, “high-value drug trafficker”.
“This individual is wanted by Interpol, the DEA, by countries in the region, such as Uruguay, Brazil and Paraguay,” the minister added.
“We mobilized more than 2,250 police officers, more than 144 vehicles, we carried out more than 23 operations, six searches and arrested 12 people,” said Del Castillo.
Sebastian Marset Cabrera, “of multiple nationalities”, is “still” in the department of Santa Cruz, with his Peruvian wife and their three children, he said.
Police operations continued in Santa Cruz on Sunday, an AFP video reporter noted.
At the end of the day, Mr. del Castillo indicated that the searches had notably led to the seizure of 17 rifles, a pistol, 1,915 ammunition and bulletproof vests.
According to the first investigations, the alleged baron entered Bolivia last September where he developed certain social activities, appearing in particular as the owner of a second division football club in the region.
Two Colombian brothers, who organized the murder and paid off the hitman who shot and killed Prosecutor Pecci on a Colombian beach in 2022, were sentenced last May in Colombia to 25 years and six months in prison, according to Colombian prosecutors.
Marcelo Pecci, 45, was on honeymoon with his pregnant wife, Paraguayan journalist Claudia Aguilera.
07/31/2023 03:32:08 – La Paz (AFP) – © 2023 AFP
