The owner of the truck that was used in the attack in Cúcuta said he sold it for 120 million pesos

During a press conference held on the morning of Wednesday, June 16, prosecutor Francisco Barbosa, Minister Diego Molano and General Luis Fernando Navarro revealed details of the ongoing investigation for the attack committed in recent days. hours in Brigade 30. of the National Army located in Cúcuta, Norte de Santander, where 36 soldiers who were there were wounded.

One of the events that emerges from the words of the three officials is that they managed to speak with the owner of the white truck that was used as a car bomb. This was made known by prosecutor Francisco Barbosa, who revealed that the vehicle was acquired a few weeks ago for the value of 120 million pesos.

According to the prosecutor, the owner of the vehicle who was a Toyota Fortuner white, 2017 model, negotiated the sale of the car and received two direct debit payments; the first was on June 2, when they sent him 20 million pesos, and the second was on June 4, sending him the remaining 100 million.

The manager pointed out that “we located the owner of the truck in the city of Cúcuta, who said that had negotiated the same between May 29 and June 4, for a value of 120 million pesos in two installments, the first on June 2 for 20 million and the second on June 4 for 100 million, both sent by domiciliary route ”, it is the latter which generates suspicion within the authorities and on what the investigations relate.

The investigation which has had the support of the Sijín and the Dijín so far shows that at around 12:35 a white 2017 Toyota Fortuner entered the military unit for control and so far it is under investigation for find out whether the security protocols to enter. Once inside, the person driving the car left it parked until 2:45 p.m. and left the military base. At 3:01 p.m. the bomb exploded after locating the vehicle near the support structure of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and at 3:04 p.m. it exploded again.

The prosecutor explained that only one man entered the truck and stressed that he was not claiming to be any civil servant, as authorities previously reported, who said two men identified themselves as civil servants. of the Attorney General’s office.

For his part, the general Luis Fernando Navarro, General Commander of the Military Forces, said the main assumption about those responsible goes towards the urban warfront of the Then, “Whose leader is alias Julián or El Rolo, who receives direct orders from the terrorist alias Antonio García, a member of Eln’s central command.” However, prosecutor Barbosa said the possibility that they were involved was not excluded. the dissidents of the Farc, the residual GAO 33.

The commander of the military forces also revealed that they were investigating whether the entry check of the truck had been carried out correctly; However, he pointed out that one of the orders given by President Iván Duque was to take administrative measures in addition to relieve guard services, operations officers, and battalion commander and second in command from their positions.

Finally, Minister Diego Molano again insisted that this is an attack by the ELN and that the act will not go unpunished and announced a 500 million peso reward for those who provide information that helps find those responsible for events. “The members of the central command would also have a responsibility (…) they are terrorists and cannot continue to pass themselves off as peace managers abroad while they commit terrorist acts against our soldiers and Colombians, ”Molano said.

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