Two active PDI officials were arrested, formalized and dismissed after concluding an operation by the Human Trafficking Brigade (Bitrap) -of the same institution- that sought to disrupt the sex trade in the historic center of the commune of Santiago.
Is about Sebastián Peredo and Nicolás Ortegawho carried out their duties in the International Airport Police Department and the Eastern Robbery Brigade of the civil police.
As reported Megathe events originated on November 28, 2022, when Bitrap officials They arrested a 17-year-old teenager of Venezuelan nationalitywho was being sexually exploited in the Portal Fernández Concha, in front of the Plaza de Armas.
The minor was being forced into sex work by a cell Aragua Trainwho followed his steps and knew each of his movements after the arrest made by the PDI.
This was due to the information provided by the aforementioned detectives to Yariel Ulloaa man of Cuban origin whose function within the criminal organization was recruitment and sexual exploitation of victims.
According to the North Central Prosecutor’s Office, Ulloa asked and paid Peredo and Ortega with the objective that they would inform him about the operations that the PDI would carry out, and also regarding the location of the victims.
On November 29, 2022, when the teenager arrested in Plaza de Armas was transferred to the Family Court, He received a call from Ulloa, who claimed to be his father. However, the Bitrap requested authorization to intervene in the cell phone call traffic of the alleged relative, and during this review they encountered the men of Peredo and Ortegathe former police officers involved.
And as soon as the teenager was arrested, Ulloa contacted his two «contacts» within the PDI to inform him about her whereabouts, so The Aragua Train cell knew the exact address from the premises where she was received by instruction of the Family Court.
THE ARREST OF THE FORMER POLICE OFFICERS INVOLVED
Mega detailed that on March 15, Bitrap detained Sebastián Peredo, to Nicolás Ortega, to the Cuban Yariel Ulloa and a Colombian named Aura Acostawho kept with the latter a front company to hide money obtained from the sexual exploitation of victims of human trafficking.
The arrest of the four suspects involved took place in a context of a goodbye party inside the Cuban citizen’s apartment, located on Morandé Street, since the latter was going to move to the United States.
One day after the arrests, The PDI issued a statement in which he announced the separation of Peredo and Ortega «due to the seriousness of the facts, and independent of the criminal investigation.»
On that day, The four defendants were charged with the crimes of illicit association, human trafficking, money laundering and bribery.instance in which the precautionary measure of preventive detention was decreed for all those allegedly involved.
The prosecutor of the North Central High Complexity Prosecutor’s Office, Carolina Suazoreported today that a hearing was held to review the aforementioned precautionary measure of one of the formalized former police officers, but finally the court decided to maintain it.
«ONE OF THE THREATS IS THAT THEY CORRUPT INSTITUTIONS»
consulted by Cooperative about the situation, the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalveexpressed this Friday that «One of the great threats of organized crime in any society is that it corrupts institutions. and, therefore, this again places an alert.»
Along these lines, the undersecretary explained that «the two main threats These are the violent crimes that one sees on the street.but what people don’t see, and what is most serious, are two things: (that) the corruption of the institutions is not seen and the money laundering is not seenbecause ultimately organized crime is a business, which obtains illicit income and launders it.»
«The second side is that, in Chile, the possibility we have of investigating criminal organizations -because the law allows it from 2022-, to intercept phones, to listen to their conversations, to place undercover agents, to carry out surveillance, allows you to obtain information to thwart corruption«Monsalve explained.
«The information that allowed us to identify two officials who were collaborating with a criminal organization was done through special research techniquesin this case through telephone interception,» the authority concluded.