The band operated nationwide. According to the prosecution, among the 10 imprisoned two members of the PNC, one of them holds a senior position on the general directorate of criminal centers, although some sources confirm that he is one of four advisers Osiris Luna has.
“This network of people smugglers has charged their victims between $ 5,000 and $ 11,000 for frauds and promises of illegal migration. Today the 10 people involved have been arrested, including two members of the PNC. No one is above the law. ”With this tweet, accompanied by an organizational chart from the criminal network, the Republic’s Attorney General reported Tuesday on the arrest of 10 members of an alleged gang of traffickers linked to Edgar Vladimir Prado Ortiz.
Prado Ortiz, has the rank of inspector in the National Civil Police, according to the Transparency Portal site, is the director of the Penitentiary School, that is, where the keepers of penitentiary centers are trained.
However, sources from that institution and the National Civil Police (PNC) confirm that he is one of the closest advisers to the director of criminal centers, Osiris Luna.
SEE: They catch alleged human traffickers who charged up to $ 11,000 per trip to the United States
El Diario de Hoy contacted Alejo Carbajal, head of communications for Prisons, to ask Luna’s opinion on the matter. Alejo stated that he knew that Prado Ortiz was no longer working for penal centers, nor was he Luna’s adviser. When told that a Prado Ortiz curriculum appears on the Transparency Portal site, indicating that the position is current, Carbajal justified that this site was not updated.
45 minutes later, however, the chief of communications corrected his position by admitting that the officer was indeed the head of the penitentiary school: “ He served as principal of the penitentiary school, which happens to be a career cop and employed in penal facilities. We repeat that he was never a consultant, ”he said.
Prado Ortiz was on a PhD course at the National Academy of Public Security, where he was arrested yesterday at 6 p.m., according to sources.
Structure of the band presented by the Attorney General’s Office. Photo EDH / Courtesy FGR
According to the prosecution, the network would be charged at least 15 cases of victims of human trafficking. The Public Prosecution seized more than $ 12,000 from the criminal group. The gang even had an armored vehicle, as well as other luxury cars and real estate, the prosecution reports.
As for Prado Ortiz, the organization chart published by the prosecution attributes him the position of “negotiator”, although it does not detail in what kind of negotiations the police intervened.
The civil servant’s CV states that he is a lawyer and civil-law notary and holds a master’s degree in criminology. And, among other things, it also highlights the Law Enforcement Leadership course delivered by the International Law Enforcement Academy (ILEA), the advanced training academy for law enforcement professionals. Public, from the United States Department of State, according to the site www.roswell.ilea.state.gov
His work experience has distinguished himself as Head of the Heritage Crimes Investigation Department in Santa Tecla and San Salvador and Coordinator of the Security and Investigation Unit of the Directorate General of Intermediate Centers of the Ministry of Justice, in addition to a long career as an investigator.
Along with Prado Ortiz, the Public Prosecution Service has also imprisoned another police investigator whom he identifies as José Óscar García Díaz.
The prosecution has appointed José Rafael Martínez Escobar, aka Rafa, as the leader of the gang, a 41-year-old man living in the canton of Santa Lucía, in the municipality of El Carmen, in the department of Cuscatlán.
A year ago, another head of the General Directorate of Penitentiary Centers, close to Osiris Luna, was exposed by Factum Magazine as someone who had forged a bachelor’s degree in Legal Science to get the position and claimed to be a lawyer for the Republic.
It was Luis de Jesús de la O Tobar, who was the head of the bureau that issues criminal records.