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The Timber Theft Mastermind: Armed Gang Operating in La Araucanía Amassed Over One Billion Pesos
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Over one billion pesos was amassed by a criminal gang that for years was dedicated to timber theft and operated in the La Araucanía Region. They managed to evade police and tax controls to commit their crimes.
Everything took place amid usurped forest estates in the southern macrozone. A years-long investigation eventually dismantled the gang, exposing their methods.
A years-long investigation ended up dismantling them, and their methods were laid bare. The chain of actions was divided by the role each individual played in this organization.
Who were they? Why did they defend their activities with such violence? The investigation by the OS9 department of Carabineros managed to answer these questions.
It was an extensive investigation. Years of ground and aerial surveillance of trucks loaded with stolen timber.
They departed from usurped forest estates heading to sawmills, where the timber was laundered for commercialization. The resources available to the gang were in the millions, a sign of an extremely lucrative operation.
Crimes Concentrated in La Araucanía
Much of this criminal activity occurred here, in the locality of Calebu, commune of Contulmo. There, they laundered the stolen timber from the usurped forest estates.
Walter Fernando Araneda Parra was the leader of the criminal group. According to the investigation, this man was the one directing and deciding on the specific illegal activities to be carried out.
In one of the intercepted wiretaps by OS9, he instructs José Flores, the driver of one of the trucks transporting stolen timber, on how to react during a highway checkpoint by Carabineros.
Alongside the leader, 10 other individuals operated. Each fulfilled different roles within the criminal organization.
Juan José Ugarte, president of the forestry industry guild, explains that the law classifying timber theft and larceny is still not ready.
"It is so inexplicable to us that, despite having the law since September 27, we still have no news of the regulation that mandates the electronic documentation requirements," stated the representative.
Million-Dollar Profits
Over 1.1 billion pesos, along with dozens of vehicles, machinery, and properties, point to a multimillion-dollar illicit fortune amassed by this criminal organization over the years.
Today, most of its members are in preventive detention, and the prosecution does not rule out more arrests of individuals linked to them.
Source:www.meganoiticas.cl
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