Story By: Jonathan Macias, Sub Editor: Joseph Golder, Agency: Central European News
Two more of the 92 prisoners who escaped during the Paraguayan tunnel jailbreak have been arrested with one of them caught because he had bragged of his escape on social media.
The escapees fled the Pedro Juan Caballero prison in the eastern Paraguayan department of Amambay near the border with Brazil using a tunnel last week, but 16 of them were captured while still in the area with 76 making good their escape.
According to local media, Brazilian escapee Mauro Vieira, 26, has now been arrested in the municipality of Ciudad Neuva in the city of Pedro Juan Caballero. Reports said that Vieira was swimming in a river when he was found and arrested by the local authorities.
He had reportedly flaunted about his new found freedom on social media that helped cops locate him, and reports state he threatened the officers who arrested him, saying that he was an important member of the Brazilian gang Prime Comando Capital (First Capital Command PCC.
The other caught escapee was Francisco Javier Jara Peralta Esquivel, 26, alias ‘Mascherano’, who was reportedly found and arrested in a police operation on Saturday in a neighbourhood of the city of Pedro Juan Caballero inhabited by the Guarani people, an indigenous people from South America’s interior.
The name of the neighbourhood is unclear.
The number of prisoners caught after their escape has increased to 11 with these two latest arrests and cops are searching for the other 65.
The majority of the prisoners reportedly belong to the Brazilian gang Primer Comando Capital (First Capital Command (PCC).
The authorities found a tunnel which they believe was used in the escape.
The tunnel was carefully hidden to avoid detection and the authorities are not ruling out the possibility that many of the missing prisoners may also have walked out of the prison’s main exit with the complicity of the guards.
The Director of the prison, Christan Gonzalez, along with the security chiefs of the facility, have been fired and arrested according to reports.
Local media report the Public Ministry suspect that prison staff may have participated in the prison break and at least 28 prison guards have been detained with prosecutor Reinalda Palacios saying “they will all be investigated and there could be more arrested”.
The investigation is ongoing.
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