Videos posted on social media show outraged citizens confronting an officer and tearing up the dollars in cash he had on him, calling him a “disgrace”
Four police officers were arrested in Venezuela for allegedly appropriating “economic assets” among the rubble of collapsed buildings in the state of La Guaira, the most affected by last week’s earthquakes, authorities said.
The agents, from the Scientific, Penal and Criminal Investigations Corps (CICPC), were expelled from the corporation and will be presented to court, according to an official statement published on Tuesday.
“These employees, deviating from their duties and taking advantage of rescue and humanitarian assistance operations, acted in an unseemly manner by appropriating economic values found among the rubble,” stated the director of the CICPC, Douglas Rico, in the statement.
Several videos posted on social media show outraged citizens confronting a CICPC agent and tearing up the dollars in cash he had on him, calling him a “disgrace.”
The Minister of the Interior, Diosdado Cabello, stated on the Telegram messaging platform that these agents “were committing impudent, indecent and immoral acts” and assured that they will be tried in accordance with the law.
“We will be totally intolerant towards those who, wearing their uniform, commit acts against morals, against good customs, and we will be even more severe in the case of a great commotion like this, in which there are people who want to take advantage of other people’s pain and assets”, he added.
The opposition party Primero Justicia (PJ) had already denounced the “taking advantage of some regime officials”, who, instead of “fulfilling their oath and preserving the lives of Venezuelans, are searching among the rubble for how to get rich from the tragedy”.
This Tuesday, the number of deaths from the earthquakes that occurred last Wednesday, in the northern part of the Caribbean country, rose to 1,943 and the number of injured to 10,571, according to authorities.
