Joaquín “El Paisa” Aquino, investigated for the origin of the adulterated cocaine that last week killed 24 people and intoxicated more than 80 in the northwest area of the Buenos Aires conurbation, declared today that the drug found in his home was “planted by the police.” According to judicial sources, “El Paisa”, which has defense lawyer Ezequiel Briceño, told the judge that when the police arrived there were no drugs in his house. In fact, he claimed that before witnesses entered, police detectives took the doses of cocaine from a gray briefcase and threw it into the building. In turn, Aquino, who extended this afternoon, through a videoconference, his inquiry before the federal judge of Tres de Febrero, Juan Manuel Culotta, refused to answer questions from the court and the prosecutor’s office as last Friday.
Aldana Benítez, partner of “El Paisa”, and Mónica Altamirano, sister of the woman, were also investigated again by the magistrate, at the request of the defense, and for the moment they will continue to be detained. In the same sense, Benitez, who lives with Aquino in the same building of Villa Loyola, in the town of Villa Concepción, San Martín party, said the informants. For her part, Altamirano stated that she did not know that drugs had been found in her home when she was arrested and that she found out later when they read her the procedural record. In turn, the accused requested the release since she has a three-year-old son in her care, which will now be evaluated by the court based on a series of documentation and previous studies that must be carried out before resolving the issue. The case being carried out by Judge Culotta has, in addition to these three defendants, four other detainees: Alberto Medina, Altamirano’s partner, Julio César Ferrari, Marcelo Canhue and Jonathan Granero.
