Police officers accused of stealing drugs in Chaco face serious charges under the Narcotics Act (23.737). The scandal broke when television cameras captured the moment officers tried to pass off bricks of gypsum as the drugs that were to be incinerated. According to Noticias Argentinas, Federal Judge Zunilda Niremperger ordered preventive detention for 100 days for seven police officers implicated. The accused face charges of drug possession for commercial purposes, aggravated by their status as public officials. The list of those indicted includes high-ranking officers and non-commissioned officers of the provincial force: Commissioner: Rubén Héctor César Alegre. Subcommissioner: Franco Andrés Ramírez. Officers and non-commissioned officers: Lucas Exequiel Martínez, Gustavo Jesús Acosta, Juan Nicolás Almirón Núñez, Gustavo Andrés Quizama and Néstor Ariel Urne Cantero. Political context and precedents. The incident occurred shortly after the provincial Security Minister, Hugo Matkovich, praised Patricia Bullrich for her fight against drug trafficking at a recent meeting. Local sources noted that the incident surpasses the usual precedents of corruption. The crime of possession for commercial purposes provides for sentences of 4 to 15 years in prison, but the sentence can be significantly increased due to the aggravating factor of being public officials in charge of the prevention and prosecution of these crimes, which could increase the maximum penalty by a third and the minimum by half.
Additionally, a precedent was recalled in Castelli where an anti-narcotics prosecutor was arrested with 200 kilos of marijuana.
Police officers accused of stealing drugs in Chaco face serious charges under the Narcotics Act (23.737). The scandal broke when television cameras captured the moment officers tried to pass off bricks of gypsum as the drugs that were to be incinerated. According to Noticias Argentinas, Federal Judge Zunilda Niremperger ordered preventive detention for 100 days for seven police officers implicated. The accused face charges of drug possession for commercial purposes, aggravated by their status as public officials. The list of those indicted includes high-ranking officers and non-commissioned officers of the provincial force: Commissioner: Rubén Héctor César Alegre. Subcommissioner: Franco Andrés Ramírez. Officers and non-commissioned officers: Lucas Exequiel Martínez, Gustavo Jesús Acosta, Juan Nicolás Almirón Núñez, Gustavo Andrés Quizama and Néstor Ariel Urne Cantero. Political context and precedents. The incident occurred shortly after the provincial Security Minister, Hugo Matkovich, praised Patricia Bullrich for her fight against drug trafficking at a recent meeting. Local sources noted that the incident surpasses the usual precedents of corruption. The crime of possession for commercial purposes provides for sentences of 4 to 15 years in prison, but the sentence can be significantly increased due to the aggravating factor of being public officials in charge of the prevention and prosecution of these crimes, which could increase the maximum penalty by a third and the minimum by half.
Police officers accused of stealing drugs in Chaco face serious charges under the Narcotics Act (23.737). The scandal broke when television cameras captured the moment officers tried to pass off bricks of gypsum as the drugs that were to be incinerated. According to Noticias Argentinas, Federal Judge Zunilda Niremperger ordered preventive detention for 100 days for seven police officers implicated. The accused face charges of drug possession for commercial purposes, aggravated by their status as public officials. The list of those indicted includes high-ranking officers and non-commissioned officers of the provincial force: Commissioner: Rubén Héctor César Alegre. Subcommissioner: Franco Andrés Ramírez. Officers and non-commissioned officers: Lucas Exequiel Martínez, Gustavo Jesús Acosta, Juan Nicolás Almirón Núñez, Gustavo Andrés Quizama and Néstor Ariel Urne Cantero. Political context and precedents. The incident occurred shortly after the provincial Security Minister, Hugo Matkovich, praised Patricia Bullrich for her fight against drug trafficking at a recent meeting. Local sources noted that the incident surpasses the usual precedents of corruption. The crime of possession for commercial purposes provides for sentences of 4 to 15 years in prison, but the sentence can be significantly increased due to the aggravating factor of being public officials in charge of the prevention and prosecution of these crimes, which could increase the maximum penalty by a third and the minimum by half.
