Global Courant 2023-05-05 14:01:05
Just when the sun had gone down, around 7:30 p.m. on the last Thursday of April, five assailants entered the back of the Lumanara coal mine, located at kilometer 13 of provincial route 193, in Zárate. They crossed a field, and went straight to the main house with a clear objective: to steal the money. But in the coup they ended up killing an employee and then a policeman in a shootout.
One week after the assault that had Luciano Padrón (22) and the police officer Osvaldo Osmar Cantero (25) as victims, there is only one detainee: the agent from Buenos Aires Dino Nicolás Meneses (29).
Access to the coal shop located on Route 193, in Zárate.
Meanwhile, investigators search for the four fugitives. “The defendant’s appointments with testimonials and survey of cameras are being evacuated,” sources in the case explain to Clarín.
Due to the arrest of Meneses, the first suspicion pointed to a gang made up of police officers. But the participation of the detainee has not yet been confirmed or if there were other agents involved. Both the police and judicial sources consulted by Clarín say they have no information on the other suspects. The case is being investigated by Zárate Campana’s Fiscal Investigation Unit (UFI) No. 7, headed by Andrea Palacios.
Dino Nicolás Meneses (29) is the only one arrested for the assault and double crime.
They arrived at “Correntino” because of his accent and an identikit made from witness statements. They gave details of his features and highlighted the tune he was from Corrientes.
When they arrested him, he was at a YPF service station located on Avenida Gallesio y Pinto, in Zárate, six blocks from the train station and the bus terminal. They investigated Meneses, he said he was “innocent” and that when the assault occurred he “had dinner” with his family. He is charged as a co-perpetrator of “homicide criminis causa”.
Before his capture, the investigators found a weapon that would have been used in the assault and double crime and that was discarded a few meters from the coal cellar.
The other track that still could not be resolved is that of the deliverer. If the assault was a “commando coup”, as Ramiro, son of the owner of the coal store, put it, or a random assault. The young man, who works in the place, affirmed that in order to reach the house, where his family was tied up, the thieves had to do “some intelligence.”
Osvaldo Osmar Cantero, the policeman killed in the assault on the coal shop in Zárate
“They sold them, we want the money,” was the phrase the victims heard during the robbery. “This is not even enough to pay the delivery person,” the assailants claimed while they made off with the money that was in the place.
From there arises the hypothesis of the deliverer, who until now could not be identified.
Padrón was killed by the assailants inside the property. A Cantero in the shootout with the Police. In the midst of the shooting, a companion of Cantero, Ezequiel Romelio, was injured.
The agent was wounded by a shot in the right leg, for this reason, he is admitted to the Bernal Sanatorium, located in the town of the same name. From the hospital he declared before the prosecutor of the Andrea Palacios case.
Five robbers participated in the assault.
The Internal Affairs Directorate of the Ministry of Security opened an investigation against Meneses and they forcibly dismissed him. This implies removing the regulation pistol, the vest and the impossibility of providing tasks. Regardless of what happens with his procedural situation, from now on he receives 50% of the salary without additional fees for 60 days, extendable for another 60.
“Exonerating him, laying him off, suspending him for X days or dismissing him will be the conclusion of the summary,” police sources explain. But, when will the summary be resolved? It will depend on the complexity. Like the UFI, Buenos Aires Internal Affairs collects evidence, testimonies and the judicial investigation influences the decision they make, although it does not define it.
The case
The double crime occurred on Thursday, April 27, around 7:30 p.m. when five thieves entered the coal factory, crossed a field until they surprised family members in the main house.
The alert of what happened was given by the owner’s daughter who went up the stairs of the house and told her father that they had broken in to steal because of the screams she heard. She then jumped off a balcony and went to the employee housing.
From there the first call to 911 came out. After that, a patrolman went to the coal shop while the laborers went out to the property to see what was happening. They came across one of the criminals who was armed.
The robbers moved two remaining employees into the main house. One was handcuffed and the other, as he resisted, received a blow from the butt that cut his scalp. At that moment, Padrón received a bullet that killed him almost instantly.
The criminals took a large sum of money and tried to escape, but ended up shooting with the policemen who arrived for the 911 call. There were about 50 shots.
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