MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Colombian police suspect “someone close” was behind Pecci's murder

Colombian authorities are investigating the case together with Paraguayan police as well as experts from the United States.

Sleuths investigating in Colombia the murder of Paraguayan special anti-drug Prosecutor Marcelo Pecci suspect someone “very close” to the victim was behind Tuesday's lethal attack on the honeymooning official, it was reported.

 “The investigators say that a person very close to the prosecutor would have participated in this crime. They do not specify in what way, but they do suspect that person,” Caracol TV's César Chaparro said.

Meanwhile, Pecci's widow Claudia Aguilera and her sister Mónica Friday arrived back in Asunción on the Paraguayan presidential airplane together with part of the group of prosecutors who traveled to Colombia to assist local authorities with the investigation.

Paraguay's Ambassador in Bogotá Sophia López Garelli announced that Pecci's body would leave Cartagena Friday and arrive in Paraguay early Saturday morning, which was corroborated by the Secretariat of Repatriated Persons: “The aircraft carrying the coffin of the prosecutor will depart from Cartagena - Colombia, at 15:53 on Friday, May 13; making a stopover in Panama, from where it will depart at 21:00, to arrive at Silvio Pettirossi Airport at 04:00 on Saturday, May 14.” According to Guillermo Osorio, General Director of Human Development of the Secretariat of Repatriated Persons, the logistics were coordinated in record time, since these procedures usually take longer.

Aguilera was with her husband when a group of hitmen shot him dead at a private beach on the island of Baru. Two assassins executed the crime. Colombian authorities released closed-circuit images showing one of them and also published a sketch of the suspect with a US$ 489,391 reward for information leading to his capture. Colombian authorities are investigating the case together with Paraguayan police as well as experts from the United States.

After landing at Asunción, Aguilera left the airport in a caravan accompanied by a police escort, without talking to the press.