ARREST OF FORMER PNC INSPECTOR IMPLICATED IN DRUG THEFT

Guatemala, September 6, 2013. Today, authorities arrested Melvin Antonio Castillo Pineda, with the support of the International Commission against Impunity in Guatemala (CICIG). The former National Civil Police (PNC) inspector is suspected of being involved in the theft of drugs from a drug trafficking organization (Amatitlán Case).

Castillo Pineda is charged with the following: criminal association; illegal trade, trafficking and storage; illegal possession and storage of offensive firearms, chemical weapons, biological weapons, traps, and experimental weapons; illegal possession of firearm ammunition; illegal search of premises; abuse of authority; creating impunity and evasion or obstruction of justice.

The police arrested Castillo Pineda in San José Acatempa (Department of Jutiapa) at a property belonging to his relatives. The accused is the seventh police officer to be arrested in the case; three additional officers continue to abscond from justice authorities.

CICIG acts as a complementary prosecutor in these criminal proceedings.

Background
The case concerns a criminal structure involved in the murder of five police officers and the involvement of PNC officers in the theft of drugs. At a warehouse complex in the municipality of Amatitlán, the scene of the confrontation between police officers and alleged drug traffickers, 370 kilos of drugs and an arsenal of weapons were seized on April 24, 2009.

In this case, the former Director of the National Civil Police (PNC), Baltazar Gómez Barrios, five police officers and three other individuals are standing trial before Trial Court B for High-Risk Matters.