Violent Brazilian Gang Escapes From Paraguay Jail Through Tunnel

(Bloomberg) -- In a feat reminiscent of Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, at least 75 members of one of South America’s most notorious criminal gangs launched a spectacular jail break in Paraguay.

The prisoners, including six alleged contract killers, appear to have fled through a large tunnel, the newspaper ABC reported. The justice ministry initially said 91 had escaped, and later reduced that figure to 75.

The tunnel, which started in a cell and ended outside the prison walls, may have been a red herring to mask the fact that most of the escapees simply walked out of the main door, Interior Minister Euclides Acevedo told the TV station Telefuturo. Investigators believe some of them may even have left the prison in previous days, he said.

The prisoners were members of the drug gang First Command of the Capital, known as PCC, Justice Minister Cecilia Perez told Telefuturo. With more than 10,000 members, the PCC is one of Brazil’s largest criminal organizations.

Five prison guards were arrested and the head of the prison, who was on holiday at the time, has been fired, according to news channel NPY. The tunnel was the work of days if not weeks, Perez said. The amount of soil shifted could not have passed unnoticed and was easily visible from the prison corridor, she added, as television images showed dozens of bags of soil piled up in a cell.

The PCC dominates the drug trade and prisons in Sao Paulo and in recent years has expanded its operations into other countries including Paraguay.

In 2012, the group unleashed a wave of violence that included more than 200 murders in protest of the election of Fernando Haddad as Sao Paulo’s mayor.

According to InSight Crime, which investigates organized crime in Latin America, the PCC has also been blamed for several large heists including the biggest armed robbery in Paraguay’s history, in which the headquarters of security company Prosegur in Ciudad del Este was attacked by a gunmen.

In 2017, the Wall Street Journal reported that the PCC was trying to recruit members of Colombia’s FARC rebel group for their expertise in heavy weaponry.

To contact the reporter on this story: Sebastian Boyd in Santiago at sboyd9@bloomberg.net

To contact the editors responsible for this story: Eric J. Weiner at eweiner12@bloomberg.net, Matthew G. Miller

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