the five prisoners, members of the fearsome gang / EL DIA
La Plata has been the scene of an escalation of increasingly violent attacks. Organized, armed and ruthless gangs break into houses, destroy their inhabitants in their sleep and destroy everything they find. In this context, the police have scored a decisive blow in the last few hours: a dangerous illegal group responsible for a long series of gruesome robberies, many of them against the elderly, has been dismantled.
The criminal organization operated according to the same pattern: night break-ins, extreme violence, firearms, defenseless victims and a quick operation to disappear without a trace. They didn’t make it. After months of investigation, surveillance and evidence analysis, all members were finally arrested.
The procedure was led by GTO officers from the 3rd Police Station of La Plata with the support of the Security Supervision of the Capital Region I within the jurisdiction of UFI 15 and Guarantee Court No. 1. The case was classified as illegal association and repeated aggravated robbery because it was committed in a city and in a gang and the use of firearms as part of the entry modality.
The detainees are Gastón Nicolás Bengardini (20); Ariel Pucheta (31), previously convicted; Antonio Ezequiel Lamas, 24, with previous armed robbery charges; Fernando Herminio Duarte Escobar (22); and Roberto Horacio Arado, 23, who recently regained his freedom after being in Department 9 of the Buenos Aires Penitentiary Service. All are accused of being key perpetrators of the attacks.
The group’s record is shocking. At least thirteen entries were solved, which occurred between May and December of this year. The victims, mostly pensioners, were surprised in their sleep, tied up, threatened with weapons and subdued in their own homes. The victims include people aged 90, 93, 87, 84 and 81.
The investigation was interrupted on September 24 when an emergency search initially arrested several members and seized eight vehicles used to commit crimes, all with active seizure requests and apocryphal license plates. From then on, the investigation deepened: analysis of cell phones, counter conversations, videos from surveillance cameras and publications on social networks in which the criminals posed armed and displayed loot.
The recent raids have been overwhelming. The police confiscated an arsenal of war: 9-millimeter pistols – one of which belonged to the Buenos Aires police with a suppressed number – revolvers, sawn-off carbines, chargers, ammunition of various calibers, including rifle ammunition. Balaclavas, gloves, seals and black clothing used in the attacks were also confiscated.
The loot recovered shows the extent of the gang: more than 2,150,000 pesos in cash, dollars, euros, a bill counting machine, large televisions, refrigerators, household appliances, shoes in boxes and a fleet of motorcycles that served as support and escape vehicles.
Prosecutor Cecilia Corfield, head of UFI 15, and Guarantor Judge Guillermo Atencio endorsed the police action and ordered the arrest of all members of the gang, who now face very serious charges and serious prison sentences.
This operation took one of the most violent gangs operating in La Plata off the streets. An organization that made terror its method and made pensioners its preferred target.
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