They arrest a group of usurious lenders who were using hitting men to collect

The national gendarmerie has arrested in the last hours a gang accused of having made loans with abusive interests and then "tightening" the customers, which led to at least one suicide.

It is a family owned business run by David Fernando Salazar Herrecha, 30, his brother Carlos Alberto, Jose and Jhon.

The group operated in Buenos Aires, but the scam also took place in parties like Zárata and San Miguel.

The loans were always cash, fast and without any requirement. In fact, most of the clients were people who could not access bank loans because they did not have the necessary resources.

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Faced with this need, the victims did not notice that they would pay 500 times the asking price and, being unable to return the money, the men struck appeared at the door of their home threatening their loved ones or themselves .

If the first warning did not turn out, the second added another bully who hit the debtor. There were also cases in which houses were shot with motorcycles.

In Tartagal, Salta, a 20-year-old girl has committed suicide because of threats from lenders. His mother denounced the loan sharks who had loaned him $ 15,000 and suddenly changed the terms into five and the payment dates: they went from every 30 days to 7 days. (Infobae and La Nueva.)

"Drip" in Latin America

After the dismantling of the band of loan sharks, Minister Bullrich recalled during a dialogue with Infobae why the Ministry of Security, with officials such as Martin Laborde, coordinator of economic crime investigations, s & rsquo; Was focused on this modus operandi that had spread from Colombia. to countries such as Mexico, Venezuela, Uruguay, Panama and Brazil.

Bullrich said that a year after taking office, a group of Colombian National Police investigators had come to our country to meet her and her team. Clearly, the detectives explained in graphs and photos that drug trafficking and money laundering had changed in their country and that the big cartels, which had stopped working in the 1990s, had left a vacant workforce .

The criminals, of course, were not looking for formal work in newspaper clbadified ads, but were geared towards a new system, which worked with the micro-wash and the black-and-white money traffic. A modality, until that moment unknown, or not studied in the country, called "drip", a form of fierce fraud.

"Together with Colombia, Argentina has taken the lead in the fight against drip, which aims to attack vulnerable people and launder money for drug trafficking," said the Minister, adding: "After understanding the modus operandi, we arrive at the total disarticulation of the integrated criminal gang by these ten Colombians".

As Infobae knew so well, through the Secretary of National Security, Eugenio Burzaco, these high-rate loans generate a money laundering system that is sent to Colombia through private couriers in the area. border. Money does not just circulate: it comes back too.

Here is how the company works

The intelligence services in Argentina, Mexico and Colombia have established that the "trade", which most likely results in tribute to a group of narco, begins with the "volanteros", responsible for the distribution of cards and offering the credits. without guarantees The so-called "administrator" is also part of the network, which is responsible for receiving calls and usually badists the customer personally. The killers who collect the money owed, plus the interests, ride on a motorcycle.

The "security chiefs", meanwhile, are responsible for the system of recovery under pressure when one of the victims can not pay the debt contracted. His specialty, threats and gun violence.

During the last raids, in the city of Buenos Aires, but also in Sam Miguel u Zárate, the gendarmerie also seized ammunition for 9 mm weapons and marijuana, as well as seven similar motorcycles that the victims described as used. by and scare them.