The 5th Trial Court of Monagas decreed a sentence consisting of 29 years and 2 months in prison for Carlos Joan Echenique Arias (28) for his responsibility in the trafficking of weapons and ammunition, aggregation and use of a facsimile of a firearm, the Public Ministry reported.
Richard José Bruzual Figuera (32), Carlos Alberto Flores Blanco and Winder Enrique Blanco García (28) were also convicted in this case. The four were part of the El Dantón gang.
These subjects were arrested on December 1, 2022 in the Santa Inés sector, San Simón parish, Maturín municipality (Monagas). This arrest was due to a complaint that Polimonagas received about a group of four men in the area, who were dedicated to extorting merchants and intimidating the inhabitants of the community.
The four men were intervened and subjected to a body inspection, in which a facsimile of a clandestinely manufactured firearm was found on Echenique Arias. Subsequently, police officials located inside a wall a bag containing eight shotgun cartridge shells, a synthetic container used to transport chewing tobacco with 23 lead ammunition inside, and another chewing tobacco container containing six shotgun primers.
Likewise, a cylindrical container containing mini-munitions weighing approximately 150 pounds, two lead bars and a tear gas bomb without visible marks or serial numbers was located. When questioned about the origin of the weapon and ammunition, none of the four offered an answer. Consequently, they were arrested.
At the trial, the Prosecutor’s Office ratified the accusation against Echenique for trafficking in weapons of war and ammunition in the form of concealment, bundling and use of a facsimile of a firearm. In turn, the accusation against Bruzual, Flores and Blanco for the commission of the first two types of crimes was ratified, crimes for which they were convicted.
