The senator of the Broad Front, Charles Carrera Leal, questioned the Minister of the Interior Luis Alberto Heber for using a truck seized from drug traffickers to move and assured that it is “a clear violation of current regulations and the purpose that seized assets should have. ”.
Through his Twitter account, the legislator belonging to the Popular Participation Movement maintained that “Seized and forfeited assets should not be used for private purposes, much less as a means of transportation for Ministers of State; these must go to auction and the proceeds must be used for the execution of public policies for the benefit of the whole society”.
As reported The Observer, Heber stopped using the armored vans provided by the portfolio to move during his workday, used by his predecessors such as Jorge Larrañaga or Eduardo Bonomi, and went on to use a gray Audi Q5.
The high-end vehicle belonged, until last year, to one of the most dangerous drug traffickers in the country: Luis Alberto “Betito” Suárez. The Audi truck was seized in May 2021, the date on which the Justice charged him with two years and four months in prison for illicit drug trafficking in the form of marketing.
“Awful public signal that is part of the drug culture. What is seized and forfeited must go to auction. You do not save by using a drug dealer’s car, but by diverting the product of its value to the destination set by the law,” Carrera published in relation to Heber’s decision.
According to the Minister of the Interior, “the time to drive around with armored cars is over” and to “optimize resources” he decided to move in the high-end car, which was part of the Confiscated Assets Fund.
Due to this, the senator demanded “government transparency by making public the minutes of the JND (National Drug Board). And in particular, that he fulfill his duty to report the fate of all seized assets.”
On the other hand, the custody of Heber is transferred in a BMW brand vehicle, also seized from a drug trafficker, according to what he learned. The Observer. And Montevideo Police Chief Mario D’Elía uses a Chevrolet Captiva that was seized from a drug trafficker, journalist Gabriel Pereyra reported on Twitter on January 23.
Carreras initiated a request for access to public information, together with senators Liliam Kechichián and Mario Bergara, with the aim of knowing the details about the assets seized by the JND and the vehicles used by the Ministry of the Interior to move.
