Police officers from the URI of Puente Aranda will be investigated for the escape of eleven detainees

Last Monday, April 18, eleven prisoners escaped from the Immediate Reaction Unit (URI) in the town of Puente Aranda. The Metropolitan Police of Bogotá (Mebog) launched an operation to recapture these prisoners and assured on Tuesday that it opened a disciplinary investigation against the police officers in charge of the URI.

The news was released through a video released by Noticias Caracol, in which it was shown how several prisoners climbed through a fence and escaped from the prison. The recording showed that a policeman is approaching the sector in an attempt to arrest these people; however, most had already managed to evade security measures.

Col. de la Mebog, Edgar Cárdenas, in an interview with La FM, mentioned that the disciplinary investigation seeks to clarify the alleged responsibility of the uniformed in the escape. “We are carrying out other activities to establish probable failures in the service,” the policeman said.

The inquiry was recorded after Mebog swept cameras and information from citizens. “It is established that a vehicle could be involved and probably picked up some people who escaped from the URI of Puente Aranda,” the colonel asserted.

Cárdenas explained that in the URI of Puente Aranda there are 565 persons deprived of liberty and in the capital there is a record of 3,080 with an overcrowding of 183%. “We work daily with the National Penitentiary and Prison Institute (Inpec) to transfer people to prisons,” explained the colonel. “The investigation will establish the alleged failure and responsibility in the service.”

What is known about the leak

The officer gave details of the eleven prisoners' escape to the radio media outlet. According to Cardenas, at 6:40 in the morning the general services workers were taking the garbage out to a place near the entrance of the detainees' cells. “A person deprived of liberty was using the sanitary service and when he was re-entered into the cells, about 30 prisoners were pouncing on the custodian,” the colonel said.

The uniformed officer mentioned that due to the number of people in the URI, “it is possible to violate the gate and the capacity of the custodians.” At that time 12 people escaped who noticed the open door where the garbage was taken out, “they easily jump over a fence that was in the place,” Cárdenas added.

Of the fugitives, one of them was recaptured. “The crimes for which these persons were detained are murder, trafficking, carrying narcotics and illegal carrying of firearms,” said the Colonel de la Mebog. He also recalled that the relocation process for the recapture is being carried out, which is in charge of the intelligence section and the Judicial Police; while, a team from the Prosecutor's Office will issue arrest warrants for the crime of escape and thus place them in the Cartel of the Most Wanted.

“We have a staff of police custodians who have established procedures for the handling of persons deprived of liberty inside the cells and the activities carried out within them, such as the daily count and the health service,” Cárdenas concluded to La FM.

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