Eight police officers on dutyamong them an officer, all experts in criminal investigation, were arrested in various parts of Lima for allegedly being part of a mafia network that was dedicated to extort people who are detained or intervened during the state of emergency.
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The authorities of the PNP and the Public Ministry They raided houses and a police headquarters, with the aim of arresting the gang members.
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Three of those involved had already been intervened on January 12 for corruption of officials. Now, the eight police officers preliminarily detained will be investigated by the own passive bribery crimes in the exercise of police functions and aggravated robbery.
The Provincial Corporate Prosecutor’s Office Specialized in Crimes of Corruption of Officials of Lima Norte (First Office) directed the search of seven properties.
This is the PNP ensign Petter Francescolle Llanca Díaz and PNP non-commissioned officers Edwin Lenin Acuña Reyes, Ronaldo Javier Castillo Relaiza, Neil Eduardo Rafael Román, Julio César Raime Tairo, Miguel Ángel Egas Arias, Junior Bryan Mauricio Kohatsu and Marcelo Alexander Benavides Masgo. The last three had already been intervened on January 12 for similar acts of corruption of officials.
The procedure was carried out in the districts of Lima fenceLa Victoria, El Agustino, Puente Piedra and Saint Martin de Porres, among which is the headquarters of the Depincri PNP of the latter district, where elements of interest for the investigation were seized.
According to the complaint, in May 2025, those investigated had entered a lodging in San Martín de Porres, using the state of emergency decreed by the government under the pretext of intervening in citizens of foreign nationality.
There, the police they would have appropriated large sums of money and property found in the property and then proceeded with the intervention of the citizens who were inside and the owner of the hotel, who were transferred to the Criminal Investigation Department.
In this unit, one of the officers, in the presence of the other police officers under investigation, reportedly demanded from the wife of one of the detainees the payment of money in exchange for his releasefacts that were reported to the representative of the Public Ministry.
Given this, the anti-corruption prosecutor Edith Cabrera Garcíainitiated preliminary investigation proceedings, within which he requested and obtained the issuance of a search warrant for seven properties and the preliminary judicial arrest of the eight law enforcement agents.
The prosecutor’s office specialized in crimes of corruption of officials indicated that they add up to 17 police officers investigated for corruption in just 18 days of 2026.
It is not ruled out that they allegedly carried out interventions and illegal operations also against businessmen, merchants and transporters.
The investigated police officers allegedly charged illegal quotas in five districts of Metropolitan Lima, according to preliminary information.
Complaints about collection of quotas by the Police are recurring during the state of emergency, taking into consideration that the Peruvian labor market It is mostly informal (70%) and that the irregular situation of foreigners must have increased this situation.
The Minister of the Interior, Vicente Tiburcio already announced a plan to strengthen and modernize the National Police with strategic axes and actions that allow for a “modern and strengthened institution, with better trained and motivated police officers“, taking into account the discredit and distrust it generates in a sector of the population.
