The police stood guard on January 19, 2020 in front of the prison of Pedro Juan Caballero in Paraguay. - Marciano Candia / AP / SIPA

The escape is worthy of a thriller action film, according to police spokeswoman, Commissioner Elena Andrada. Nearly 80 prisoners, mostly members of Brazil's largest gang of arms and drug traffickers, escaped from a prison in Paraguay on Sunday. This one apparently would have been dug with the complicity of the guards, announced the authorities.

The entrance to a tunnel at the prison of Pedro Juan Caballero on January 19, 2020. - Marciano Candia / AP / SIPA

The escape from Pedro Juan Caballero prison, located on the border with Brazil, "took place on Sunday morning," said Commissioner Andrada. Mainly members of the organization Primer Comando de la Capital (CCP), the detainees "have set up a tunnel as can be seen in the films, with interior lighting, from prison sanitary facilities". "There are only 25 meters between the tunnel and the nearest guardhouse," added the commissioner.

Prison director dismissed

“It is a work of several weeks. It is obvious that the staff knew and did nothing, "said Justice Minister Cecilia Perez. The authorities therefore announced the dismissal of the director of the prison establishment as well as the arrest of dozens of guards. "There is a strong suspicion that the officials (working in the prison) were involved in a system of corruption," added the minister, adding that the fugitives, 76 of whom have been counted so far, are "extremely dangerous ". Men who had participated in a massacre between rival gangs in San Pedro prison on June 16, 2019, escaped, in which ten prisoners were beheaded, police said.

Brazil strengthens its security

Five vans in which some of the escapees fled were found burned to Ponta Pora, on the Brazilian side of the border area. The Paraguayan city of Pedro Juan Caballero is separated from Ponta Pora by a bordering avenue. As a result, Brazil has tightened security in the border area in an attempt to capture fugitives, said Mato Grosso do Sul’s secretary of justice, Antonio Carlos Videira. And Paraguayan Interior Minister Euclides Acevedo said that special police forces were raking the area, assisted by helicopters.

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