Venezuela Arrests Police After Caracas Jewelry Store Robbery
Venezuela Arrests Police After Caracas Jewelry Store Robbery
By Nathan Crooks - Aug 2, 2013 2:19 PM CT .
Nine police officers were arrested for stealing physical evidence after two jewelry stores were robbed in Caracas on July 30, Venezuela’s public prosecutor office said today in an e-mailed statement.
The officers were part of a team from the Chacao municipality that responded to an armed robbery of two jewelry stores in the Centro Lido office complex and shopping mall in the eastern Caracas business district of El Rosal, according to the statement.
Two men connected to the robbery have also been detained, while a third was killed in a shootout with police, according to the public prosecutor. Armed robbers entered the building on the evening of July 30 and waited for the mall to close, the public prosecutor office said, adding that eight people in the mall, including six foreigners, were also assaulted.
Venezuela, which faces high rates of violent crime including kidnapping and murder, was ranked the ninth worst in the world by Transparency International in its 2012 Corruption Perceptions index. Police forces are perceived as the most corrupt institution in the country, the organization said in its 2013 Corruption Barometer report.
Venezuela President Nicolas Maduro has made the fight against corruption a central theme of his platform during the first 100 days of his government, state news agency AVN reported on July 28.
http://www.bloomberg.com/news/2013-08-02/venezuela-arrests-police-after-caracas-jewelry-store-robbery.html
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