He was identified as Alejandro Líguen Venegas, alias “El Chino”, and is a member of the Chacaico community. The detainee kept weapons of war and ammunition in his possession
By
Cristián Torresfrom Santiago, Chile
Police officer Luis Morales
Chilean authorities managed to arrest the alleged perpetrator of the murder of a police officer in an operation inside a Mapuche community in January 2021.
The detainee was identified as Alejandro Líguen Venegas, alias “El Chino”, and is a member of the Chacaico community, located in the town of Angol, 682 kilometers south of Santiago. The suspect was arrested while he was sleeping and in his possession he had a rifle with a telescopic sight , ammunition, a balaclava and military clothing.
The first tests carried out on the weapon seized from the detainee revealed that this element coincides with the one that would have been used to kill the police officer. “The arrest of an alleged person involved in this homicide was achieved, as well as the recovery of weapons authorized to fire 7.62 caliber ammunition,” said the chief prosecutor of La Araucanía, Roberto Garrido.
< p class=”paragraph”>After the arrest of “El Chino”, prosecutor Garrido confirmed that the subject will be presented before the Justice under the charge of aggravated homiciderisking a penalty that varies between 10 years and one day in jail up to 20 years. “The most serious accusation that the Public Ministry is in a position to sustain is related to the murder of the Investigative Police official, Luis Morales,” Garrido said.
The death of the official
Photograph of the police operation deployed in the middle of the death of agent Luis Morales
The events date back to January 7, 2021 when a massive raid was carried out in the community of Temucuicui, located in the region of La Araucanía, that sought to seize 4,000 marijuana plants. Around 800 agents participated in the operation, among them, the official from the Investigative Police (PDI), Luis Morales.
While this operation was taking place the officials were ambushed, which it ended with the policeman dead at the scene.
The death of the agent generated a parallel investigation to clarify how this type of weaponry reached the Temucuicui community.
The investigations of the authorities managed to discover that a gendarme and a civilian were involved in the regular trafficking of this weapon to communities in the town of Ercilla, located in the region of La Araucanía.
The prosecution was able to verify that both subjects traveled to the city of Chillán, located 404 kilometers south of Santiago, where the official from The Gendarmerie bought 1,650 .44-caliber ammunition and 250 12-caliber ammunition and then transferred them to Raúl Esparza Veloso, who was detained by the police when he was going to sell weapons.