A Uruguayan drug trafficker who had evaded an International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) manhunt with the help of fake passports, documents, and facilitators fled before a major police raid on his Bolivian home.
Despite being wanted by Interpol, he appeared to be “at large,” playing soccer in a local league.
According to local newspapers such as Eldeber (Bolivia) and El Universo (Uruguay), the day before, Bolivian police planned an operation to arrest Sebastian Marcet, 32, who was wanted on an Interpol Red Notice in the town of Santa Cruz.
But before the police could set up a full-scale siege, two officers who had been deployed to the scene and were scouting the area with drones were spotted by Marcet’s private security guards. The heavily armed private security guards detained and beat the officers before releasing them, local media reported.
Later, police officers were called to Marxet’s residence, but he and his family had already fled.
“A series of operations were carried out to catch drug traffickers who cause great damage in our region and around the world,” Bolivian Minister Carlos Eduardo del Castillo said in a press conference, adding that “with the mobilization of more than 2,250 police officers and 144 vehicles, we arrested 12 people (not including Marset).”
Marset, who is accused of trafficking and distributing large quantities of cocaine in the Americas and Europe, is wanted in the United States, Brazil, Uruguay and Paraguay.
He is known to use fake passports to travel around the world, and was jailed two years ago in the United Arab Emirates (UAE) after authorities caught him with a fake Paraguayan passport. He was released, however, because “there was no investigation into the illegal use of the fake passport.
Upon his return to Uruguay, Marset was found to be living in Santa Cruz, Bolivia, near the borders of Brazil and Paraguay, where he played for a soccer team in a league organized by the national soccer federation.
Despite being wanted by Interpol, El Universo reported that videos of him casually running around the soccer field can be found on YouTube.
“He can be seen playing in at least three recent league matches,” the outlet said, adding that he started some of them and even took photos with players before kickoff. 먹튀검증
Earlier, Colombian President Gustavo Petro had posted on social media that Marset was behind the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pech, who was killed in a Colombian resort in May last year.
Known for his tough investigations into drug cartels, Mr. Pecci became famous for his handling of the case of Brazilian soccer player Ronaldinho’s possession and use of a fake Paraguayan passport.