A security guard and a criminal were killed Wednesday in a shootout at the Chilean capital’s international airport when assailants tried to steal $32 million from Miami that would be distributed at bank branches.
The head of the Civil Aeronautics Directorate, General Raúl Jorquera, specified that the robbery was thwarted by security personnel from that organization.
The attempted robbery occurred in the morning when a group of about 10 people aboard several vehicles entered the terminal through the unloading sector after knocking down the bars, hitting a guard and stealing his weapon, reported the Undersecretary of the Interior, Manuel Monsalve.
The group sought to appropriate 32 million dollars that had arrived aboard a Latam plane and that would be transferred to a truck belonging to the US security company Brink’s to later distribute it to three bank branches.
“Unfortunately there was a confrontation” between the criminals and airport agency personnel in which a security guard and one of the thieves died, Monsalve said.
The Brink’s company, which transports valuables and cash in armored vehicles, has suffered at least two robberies at the Santiago air terminal, one in 2006 and another in 2014.
Monsalve pointed out that it is being investigated whether two people who entered health centers with bullet wounds participated in the attempted robbery.
President Gabriel Boric alluded to the assault during a speech and stated that security is a priority “and when there is insecurity, all the rest falters.”
The increase in armed violence in criminal acts is one of the problems facing the president and that led to a drop in his approval rating, according to coincident surveys.
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