Carabineros personnel are following the whereabouts of the loot and the criminals who committed the robbery
By
Cristián Torresfrom Santiago, Chile
About 100 pieces were stolen from the Andean museum (Image source: www.santarita.com)
A group of hooded men stole gold pieces “of incalculable value” from a well-known museum located a few kilometers from Santiago de Chile.
The event occurred inside the Santa Rita vineyard, in the district of Buin, a town located 35 kilometers from the Chilean capital.In this enclosure is the Andean museum from where the group of criminals stole pre-Columbian gold pieces from different countries.
According to police information there would be 100 pieces of gold stolen and This happened when the site was about to close its doors. Although there were still people inside, the criminals did not care, as they took advantage of the last minutes of the museum to force their way in and commit the crime.
Witnesses reported that about 12 subjects with their faces covered got out of three luxury cars without their identification plates and proceeded to enter the place and commit the robbery. The time it took for all of this was no more than seven to ten minutes, so it is assumed that the crime was highly studied.
“It is an unfortunate fact that occurs in this sector where a short time ago more than 5,000 people visited for Heritage Day, and the possible participation of some of these people in the act is not being ruled out,” said Police Colonel Rodrigo Ganga, from the Maipo Prefecture.
While the criminals committed the robbery, the hooded men proceeded to threaten with firearms those who were inside a minibus that was in the Andean museum. The passengers were forced by the antisocials to get off the machine to then shoot twice at the vehicle.
On this, Colonel Ganga stated that there were no injuries from these shots and that after this the criminals proceeded to escape to “a place that would be identified by police personnel”.
“Incalculable value”
This robbery against the Andean museum hits the national heritage hard. The deputy director of the venue, Eloísa Cruz, assured that this is the first time something like this has happened in the establishment.
“It is a tremendous loss for our country, especially for this area. This museum is attended by 10,000 children a year, about 50,000 people, who come to visit pre-Columbian heritage objects of incalculable value. There are approximately 100 gold objects, although we are not sure exactly how many there are”, he told the media outlet La Tercera.
The works had been donated by the Claro Vial Foundation in 2006.