MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Detainee in Pecci case threatens Colombian authorities

Colombian authorities are still searching for Venezuelan national Gabriel Carlos Luis Salinas

A suspect arrested in Colombia in connection with the May 10 killing of Paraguayan Prosecutor Marcelo Pecci Friday threatened to kill officers of the Technical Investigation Corps (CTI) during the hearings.

Read also: Colombia – Five arrested in Pecci's murder probe

After the threat, the Cartagena authorities decided that during the hearings, which will be public and virtual, the faces of the prosecutor and the magistrate will not be visible.

Those arrested last week were Francisco Luis Correa Galeano, who assembled the group and was its financial coordinator; Wendel Carrillo, who allegedly fired the shots, and Jeiverson Zabaleta Arrieta, who would have transported the assassins to Baru Island.

Also apprehended were Marisol Londoño and her son Cristian Camilo Monsalve Londoño for tipping the assassins on Pecci's movements. The Paraguayan prosecutor was on his honeymoon with his wife Claudia Aguilera.

Francisco Luis Correa Galeano is said to have a criminal record. He is believed to have been the link to a dangerous group of hitmen in the Aburrá Valley.

Despite these arrests, Colombian authorities are searching for Venezuelan national Gabriel Carlos Luis Salinas, who presumably rode the jet ski in which the hitman was riding from Playa Blanca to the Decameron Hotel.

Arraignment hearings are scheduled for Monday.

Pecci was 45 years old. He belonged to the Unit against Organized Crime and headed the Drug Trafficking section. He was killed with three gunshots by two perpetrators during his honeymoon on a tourist island in front of Cartagena, Colombia. His assassination might have been planned from within prisons in the United States. Brazilian and Paraguayan crime organizations are also believed to have been involved.

Colombian, US and Paraguayan authorities are working together in the investigation of the crime.