Alarms are raised over an alleged plan to attack the Palace of Justice

The Colombian government and security forces sounded the alarm on Friday after learning that a model of the Palace of Justice was discovered along with explosives that could point to a possible attack against the courthouse, a fact that is under investigation, but which has motivated increased security at the facilities, although for the moment no further information on the case has been released.

What was learned this Friday is that on Tuesday, August 13, two raids took place in two homes in the town of Ciudad Bolívar, in the south of Bogotá, in which the model, eight kilos of amonal were found –substance composed of potassium, sulfur and rubber-, 68 cartridges with two rifle magazines and a vest for exclusive use by the Military Forces, reported the director of the Police, General William Salamanca, in a press conference.

Although the findings were made three days ago, It was not until today that the alarms went off. When the president of the Supreme Court, Gerson Chaverra, confirmed to the media the discovery of the explosives and the model and assured that “In light of this objective reality, it is necessary to adopt objective security measures to reinforce the Palace of Justice to prevent a terrorist attack from being perpetrated.”

Following the discovery, an alert was issued on Thursday to reinforce security at the courthouse after an extraordinary security council led by Colombian President Gustavo Petro. The police have launched a reinforcement plan with 45 police officers inside the Palace of Justice, a symbolic building, since On November 6, 1985, it was occupied by the guerrilla group Movimiento 19 de Abril. (M-19) and recovered the next day, after 28 hours of fighting and bombing by the Army, in an operation that left nearly a hundred dead and 11 missing.

Courthouse

Sergio Acero / THE TIME

“The security of the Palace of Justice is strengthened, there is an instruction from the president himself to contribute to the security of the house of justice”Salamanca later confirmed at a press conference where he gave more details of the operation, which is now in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office, which is conducting the entire investigation.

Chivatazo Salamanca said the operation took place after security forces received information from a human source, after which they raided the two homes. All the seized material was found in the first home.

Although they did not find anything in the second, they were able to establish that it was the residence of “a person known as ‘Alarcón’ who had been murdered the day before,” The police director explained to the media. He also added that the investigation is in the hands of the Prosecutor’s Office and its specialists are the ones who have to analyze the seized material, but the information from the technicians so far is that it is an explosive substance that does not have “a power of high impact”, in the words of the general.

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Courthouse

Sergio Acero / THE TIME

And about the model, made of cardboard and without too many details of the interior of the building, Salamanca also assured that it has “questions” about “Whether or not it corresponds to the Palace of Justice, but we cannot confirm anything.”

For her part, the Minister of Justice, Angela Maria Buitrago, said: “The most important thing is that it is a warning that should not be ignored. The same thing happened when the Palace of Justice was taken over. All security organs and all entities were alerted. It was known that they had plans for the Palace of Justice and they were ignored.”. “Any kind of alert that arises in these cases must be taken seriously”he insisted.

The Prosecutor’s Office, meanwhile, detailed that the findings are “the subject of analysis (…) to determine the origin and criminal actors who may be behind the alleged planning of attacks against institutions and personalities detected in recent weeks.”

EFE

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