Cusco: 365 thousand soles seized and 18 detained in mega-operation against ‘mafia’ to obtain driver’s licenses (VIDEO)

After four years of investigations by the Police and the Public Prosecutor’s Office, an alleged criminal organization in Cusco, which operated as a ‘mafia’ to favor the obtaining, revalidation and recategorization of driver’s licenses, was finally disrupted.

During the last Friday, a mega-operation developed in Cusco, ended with the seizure of 365 thousand soles, 13 thousand dollars and the arrest of 18 people, including officials of the Cusco Regional Transportation Directorate and people accused of ‘pullers’, ‘recruiters’ and ‘processors’, who would have acted together within the alleged criminal group.

According to agents of the High Complexity Crime Investigation Division (Diviac), the investigations still began in March 2019, when they became aware of the gang called ‘Los Licenciados de Cusco’ involved in crimes against public administration, influence peddling, delito against public tranquility and criminal organization to the detriment of the State.

Since then, the authorities have been following in the footsteps of these subjects, accused of obtaining illegal profits in exchange for favor and/or direct the process of processing and issuing driver’s licenses in its different categories (new licenses, revalidation and recategorization), taking advantage of the needs of people (students), to avoid paperwork and exams.

The Police mention that the users resorted to the so-called ‘jaladores’, who have contact with the ‘processors’ and ‘collaborators’ who work in the Cusco Regional Transportation Department.

“This criminal network is properly structured, each one of its members has defined roles and functions, as nodal points ‘key men’ are Francisco Gomez, Lucio Chino, Carlos Vargas and Julio Surco”quotes a police statement verbatim.

It should be noted that the entire operation was carried out under the mandate of Judicial Resolution No. 01 31DEC2022, of the 8th Preparatory Investigation Court Specialized in Corruption of Officialsthrough which different offices of the Cusco Regional Transport Directorate, the homes of those involved, medical centers and driving schools were raided.

Until now, the people identified as: