President Mauricio Macri was left red-faced after Argentina's federal police chief admitted a manhunt was still on for two of the country's most notorious criminals despite claiming they had captured all three prison fugitives hours earlier.
The newly elected right-wing president was celebrating the purported capture of prison escapees Martin Lanatta, his brother Christian and Victor Schillaci Saturday however it turns out only Martin Lanatta was found by security forces.
Macri even took to Twitter to congratulate police on arresting the notorious criminals wanted for drug gang-related killings.
Felicito a todo el equipo y a las fuerzas de seguridad por la captura de los prófugos. El trabajo en conjunto fue fundamental.
— Mauricio Macri (@mauriciomacri) January 9, 2016
Congratulations to all the team and the security forces for the capture of the fugitives. Working together was key.
The fugitives turned over their stolen pickup truck into a ditch during the televised high speed chase in Cayasta, Santa Fe province, about 500km from the capital Buenos Aires, after a massive search with helicopters, police commandos and military shooters.
Martin Lanatta, Christian Lanatta and Victor Schillaci (L-R), are seen in this undated combination picture released by Argentina's Security Ministry. | Photo: Reuters/SECURITY MINSTRY/HANDOUT
Confusion as to the whereabouts of the other men ensued after only Martin was taken to a local police station by an armed guard.
"We're still looking for the other fugitives," acknowledged Roman Di Santo, head of the Argentine Federal Police force.
While Macri's security minister, Patricia Bullrich, said the government had been given false information by their sources, thought to be police officials involved in the chase, with the intention of buying the escapees more time in the manhunt.
"There will be a full investigation into this false information, which might have been meant to give the other two time to make good their escape," Bullrich said in a televised statement in Santa Fe.
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Bullrich's comments suggest that corrupt officials may have played a hand in the criminal's escape from prison and failure to track all of the wanted men down.
The trio had been serving life sentences since 2008 for the killing of three businessmen in the pharmaceutical industry allegedly linked to an ephedrine trafficking gang in a high-profile case dubbed "The triple murder." Ephedrine is used for the production of methamphetamine.
However last month the men escaped from a maximum security prison in Sante Fe using a fake gun to threaten one of the guards in manhunt that has griped the nation.
Ironically President Macri had accused the previous government, led by Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner, of doing little to crack down on drug crime.
During a presidential debate in November with Justicialist Party candidate, Daniel Scioli, Macri said that if elected, defeating narco-trafficking would be one of his three top challenges. He has also spoken in favor of shooting down planes suspected of carrying illegal drugs.
“We aren't living in the Argentina we want,” Macri said, lashing out at the Fernandez government's handling of national security in recent years.
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