The deputy mayor and four aldermen of a Peruvian town were arrested for allegedly hiring hitmen to assassinate Samanco district mayor in the northern region of Ancash and his lawyer, the judiciary said.
AFP
"From the testimonies of detainees involved in the double murder, and the evidence that was collected in the case, it appears that the motive was political, for profit and to take control of the works in Samanco" he told Press Chimbote police chief, John Mayer.
On October 20, Mayor Francisco Ariza and his lawyer Henry Village died after being riddled while traveling in a car in the district of Nepeña. The death of Fanny Malqui allowed Ariza, deputy mayor of the municipality, took over as head of the mayor.
She, the four council members and five members of the band called Chimbote grafts were captured by police last week. According to prosecutors Nepeña, investigating the case, to Malqui and their rulers are accused of planning and being masterminds of the double murder for profit and political interests.
The masterminds have paid the gunmen 3,000 to 5,000 soles (between 880 and 1,470 dollars) for the crime.
Last Monday, the Fifth Court of the Superior Court of Santa, the province that the municipality belongs, approved the extension of custody of detainees.
The action of assassins and extortionists has increased in the last year in Peru. Governors and mayors of different cities have asked the government to declare emergency in the cities and allow the support of the armed forces in security work.
Last week, the government decreed a state of emergency in the coastal province of Callao, at the risk of clashes between rival drug gangs, and instead sent the special forces of the National Police.