Details of the operation that ended with the arrest of seven people involved in theft of $ 13 billion at the airport

It was the assault left by one of the biggest booties in recent years. On March 9, a group of criminals entered one of the warehouses located at the Arturo Merino Benítez Airport and appropriated $ 13.1 billion, divided into Chilean pesos, dollars and euros. Yesterday, the history of this robbery marked a new milestone, since the PDI arrested an important part of the group of assailants, after the prosecution obtained an authorization from magistrate Fernando Guzmán, from the Ninth Court of Guarantee of Santiago.

According to the background of the case, at least six defendants, Characterized in the clothes of workers who operate in the cargo area, they entered a van with the DHL logo in the warehouse where the money was and intimidated staff with firearms.

Until this Tuesday Nine people had been arrested, of whom seven were directly linked to the robbery. Between them he was arrested Eloy Varas Sáez, syndicated as the group’s leader, who was kept for about a month hidden in a plot that leased in the vicinity of Pucón. His apprehension came true when he was in the Sagrada Familia commune.

According to information gathered by the police and the West Prosecutor’s Office, one week before the robbery Varas went to the airport to observe the place and simulated a crash, which supposedly served to divert the cameras.

Who is syndicated as second in command, Ariel García Garrido, was hidden in a cabin in Vilches and was captured in San Clemente.

To them is added Walter Lizana Guzmán, who worked at the Santiago airport as a customs agent assistant.

Part of the operational and logistical arm was also arrested. Is about Juan González Plaza (in 2008 he was arrested as part of a gang that sold weapons to the drug traffickers “Care’Jarro”), Ricardo Zúñiga Bauer and Roberto Bilbao Peñaloza (in 2011 he carried out a frustrated robbery of a jewelry store in Valparaíso).

A seventh member, Ariel Bathrobe Brito, was also apprehended by failed homicide, because he shot when the police wanted to enter his plot to stop him.

At the detention control hearing, prosecutor Eduardo Baeza said that “In this case, an arrest warrant was issued for 10 accused. Investigative measures are being carried out to find the whereabouts of four other defendants and that is currently in progress (…) Clothing, cell phones have been seized, from which our claim as an investigative body is to obtain some type of additional background that may better support a complaint tomorrow. ” On this basis, the prosecutor asked to extend the detention of the accused, which the court authorized. The new hearing was set for tomorrow, at 11.00.

According to background of the investigation, 21 homes were raided and five pistols were recovered, including one used in the robbery, in addition to cars and $ 100 million, amount that would increase after the proceedings that continued throughout the day.

Since March, the detectives in charge of the investigation had 20 suspects. One of the most important elements was the audiovisual record of the place where the robbery took place. Those images managed to find the identity of those involved and during these almost two months they worked on proceedings “To position them on the site of the event.”

The general director of the PDI, Héctor Espinosa, said “Here is a very professional job of criminal analysis and police intelligence that managed to position the authors of this robbery.”

Meanwhile, the lawyer Gonzalo Yuseff, a plaintiff for the affected company, stated that “this is a complex investigation that needed to be expanded to be able to investigate the antecedents that appeared on the occasion of the arrest, such as the cell phones of the accused and the clothes.”