Staff of the Public Prosecutor’s Office and the Judicial Investigation Agency have carried out different proceedings in the home of a man named Arley who is suspected of having kidnapped five homeless people in Desamparados.
It appears that the authorities are considering the possibility of more victims, since more complaints were received after the raids.
The suspect received a year of preventive arrest. According to the authorities he forced five people to work on the construction of a house and only gave them white rice and crack stones.
The Functional Direction Operative Unit of the Public Prosecutor’s Office (UODF) executes the proceedings in the place where on August 10th, five people who had been beaten were released. They said they were threatened and worked against their will.
The Judicial Investigation Agency (OIJ) described that the victims were being held in a kind of cement tomb. Weapons and traces of blood had been found in the room.
Arley Acuña is known in the police environment as the “Matapobres” (the poor killer) and has a criminal record for kidnap, drug trafficking, robbery, extortion and threats.
Four months ago, he was released from prison, but returned in mid-August due to the precautionary measure filed by the complaint of trafficking in persons exploited at work.
He said he never enslaved or kidnap homeless people and that he only built apartments in a house that he received as an inheritance in Desamparados, after the death of his father.
Arley expressed he offered work to 10 homeless people in the red zone, but five decided not to work with him anymore.