May 20, 2024, 4:00 AM
May 20, 2024, 4:00 AM
The Departmental Disciplinary Court of the Santa Cruz Police, definitively discharged, without the right to reinstatement, the former head of the Diprove unit of Puerto Suárez, Colonel Marcelo Rodrigo Ramírez Colque, currently detained in the Palmasola prison, after having been discovered transporting cocaine in his motor vehicle.
The ruling was issued after three days of marathon oral trial hearings, at the Palmasola Government facilities.
The Departmental Disciplinary Court of the Santa Cruz Police, under the presidency of Colonel Víctor Hugo Medina, held the hearings in the presence of the accused, his defense lawyers and police personnel.
The investigations were carried out by the Departmental Directorate of Internal Police Investigation (DIDIPI) and the Police Prosecutor’s Office for serious and very serious misconduct, attributed to Colonel Marcelo Ramírez.
He listened to the trial and remained silent
During the three days of the trial in Palmasola, Colonel Ramírez attended and listened attentively to the deliberations. His lawyer assumed his defense, but when the court granted her the right to speak, which by right corresponds to him for his material defense, The police chief remained silent. He did not comment anything, until he heard the final verdict of permanent discharge and without the right to reinstatement in the law enforcement institution.
The ruling of the Disciplinary Court is, in the first instance, where the accused has the right to file an appeal before the Higher Police Disciplinary Court.
Marcelo Ramírez Colque was sent to Palmasola prison by order of the precautionary judge Carla Lorena Añez, after being charged by the Prosecutor’s Office for the crime of trafficking in controlled substances.
The investigations of the Special Force to Fight Drug Trafficking and the Prosecutor’s Office indicate that on May 7, on the bioceanic highway, in the town of Pozo del Tigre, police officers carried out a routine check on a vehicle driven by Colonel Marcelo Ramírez. During the check, The colonel escaped, he even dragged a policeman, but a few kilometers away he abandoned the vehicle and entered the mountain on foot.
The agents searched the vehicle and inside they found a briefcase with ‘brick-type’ packages of cocaine wrapped in masking tape.
After two days, the police chief surrendered to the police and was taken to the judge to respond. In front of the jurisdictional authority, he said that he turned himself in because he had the will to submit to trial.
Legitimation of profits
The Controlled Substances Prosecutor’s Office not only carries out an investigation into drug trafficking crimes. After Colonel Marcelo Ramírez was sent to Palmasola for the crime of drug trafficking, the Prosecutor’s Office opened a new investigation against him for legitimizing illicit profits.
In Santa Cruz, the Felcn and the Prosecutor’s Office carried out at least three raids on Colonel Ramírez’s properties. They seized vehicles, documentation and the investigations continue, since the Felcn has reports that The man would have assets accumulated in different parts of the apartmentwhich could have been acquired with money from illicit activities, to which he was engaging.
Colonel Marcelo Ramírez has been serving as head of the Puerto Suárez Diprove unit for two years. He also served as head of Diprove in Warnes.
Now, in the Palmasola prison, he was admitted to PC-6, the cell where some police officers are being purged. The first days he remained in custody until the Penitentiary Council decided to order his admission to PC-6 to avoid any incident.
