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Bolivian government denies involvement in massive airport gold heist

Xinhua, September 2, 2015 Adjust font size:

The Bolivian Ministry of Government announced on Tuesday that no Bolivian police officer had been involved in an armed attack at the airport of Juliaca in Peru, in which robbers made off with 123kg of gold, around 1.9 million U.S. dollars and more than 9 million Peruvian soles (2.3 million U.S. dollars) in cash.

"After an exhaustive revision of all Bolivian police personnel, it was established that the names mentioned by the Peruvian daily, La Republica, did not match any member of Bolivian security forces," said an official press release from the Bolivian government.

Since the attack on Aug. 28, Peruvian media had published information about the alleged assailants, who used tear gas to overpower guards and rob an armored truck and aircraft loaded with gold.

Six suspects were arrested on Sunday in the town of Canchi Grande, near Juliaca, with about 59kg of gold and about 300,000 U.S. dollars worth of cash being retrieved.

La Republica mentioned that one of those arrested was a presumed Bolivian policemen named as Juan Chirino Vargas. This prompted the Bolivian Ministry of Government to criticize the leak and to ask the newspaper to manage information in a "balanced, responsible and professional manner".

Despite the Bolivian denial of his identity, Vargas remains in custody along with Zacarias Yana Quispe and Miguel Angel Perez Tirado. The three other suspects have been released.

After Friday's attack, 400 Peruvian security forces led a massive manhunt for the 12 assailants, leading to the six arrests on Sunday. Peruvian authorities have also said they believe the men were planning to take their booty across Lake Titicaca to Bolivia by boat. Enditem