The five men arrested by the police were convicted in a short trial. rape to a jeweler while shopping Punta Carretas. The prosecutor in this case is Raúl Iglesias and the judge is Matías Porciúncula.
They were all charged with the crime of particularly aggravated robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime. The sentence for one of them was five years and six months for the crime of robbery and conspiracy to commit a crime. Five years and eight months for another for robbery, criminal association and purchasing a firearm. And for three it was six years and six months for robbery with complicity in a felony and supply of narcotics.
Police arrested five men this Thursday morning during raids to find those responsible for the robbery of the jewelry store in the Punta Carretas shopping center in Montevideo on February 25.
Investigative sources told News Agency that jewelry and police uniforms identical to those used in the robbery were seized. They are around 30 years old.
Four men were arrested early in the morning and the fifth arrest took place around ten in the morning.
The police chief of Montevideo, Mario D’Elía, spoke at a press conference this Thursday at noon and assured that all those detained were Uruguayans and had a criminal record. He reported that “they were not police officers,” referring to the police uniform-like clothing they were wearing at the time of the robbery.
D’Elía said that during the investigation the detainees were found in “previous meetings all together.” He did not specify where this meeting took place, but suggested that the robbery could have been prepared there.
Underlined reported at the time of the attack that they did not threaten the employees with firearms, but instead used hammers to break the stained glass windows. They wore clothing that resembled police uniforms. They fled with jewelry and watches.
As they entered the mall, they overpowered the security guard both at the entrance and outside the premises and fled in a vehicle, which they later abandoned on Lagunillas Street in Punta Carretas.
On the night of the same day, police found the second vehicle used for the escape. It was in Hugo de los Santos Recarte and Charrúa.