World News | El Salvador's Police Director and a Fugitive Banker Are Among 9 Dead in a Helicopter Crash
Get latest articles and stories on World at LatestLY. El Salvador's military says the national police director, other high-ranking police officials and a fugitive banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash in a rural part of the country.
San Salvador (El Salvador), Sep 9 (AP) El Salvador's military says the national police director, other high-ranking police officials and a fugitive banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash in a rural part of the country.
The cause of the crash on Sunday night is under investigation. It occurred after the banker, Manuel Coto, was captured in Honduras over the weekend and handed over to Salvadoran authorities at the border.
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Coto, the former manager of the COSAVI savings and loan cooperative, had been the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant and one of 32 people implicated in the embezzlement of more than USD 35 million by the cooperative's directors and employees.
El Salvador's military in a post on X said the air force helicopter crash occurred in the area of San Eduardo, Pasaquina, La Union. It said the director general of the National Civil Police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, and two deputies were aboard.
El Salvador's president, Nayib Bukele, said in a post on X that “what happened cannot remain as a simple accident'" and must be investigated thoroughly "and to the ultimate consequences. We will request international help”.
Bukele noted that Arriaza Chicas had led the government's fight against the gangs that once dominated daily life for much of the Salvadoran population. Bukele's harsh crackdown on the gangs and mass arrests of more than 80,000 people with little due process have been condemned by human rights organisations. (AP)
(The above story is verified and authored by Press Trust of India (PTI) staff. PTI, India’s premier news agency, employs more than 400 journalists and 500 stringers to cover almost every district and small town in India.. The views appearing in the above post do not reflect the opinions of LatestLY)