GUATEMALA CITY, (MILLAT/APP/AFP) – One of Guatemala’s
most-feared gangs, Barrio 18, has launched a wave of murderous attacks on police across the country following the storming of a detention center overrun by its jailed members, officials said Tuesday.
Police are on “maximum alert” after at least nine assaults on police
stations that have killed three officers and wounded seven, according to
Interior Minister Francisco Rivas.
Thirteen suspected gang members have been arrested in the wake of the
attacks, and weapons including a grenade launcher, five assault rifles, four
pistols and two bulletproof jackets seized, along with several vehicles, he
said.
He called the attacks a “reaction by organized crime” to Monday’s raid on the detention center.
The storming of the Stage II facility in San Jose de Pinula, just outside Guatemala City, was ordered after dozens of Barrio 18 inmates rioted and killed two guards and took four others hostage.
The building was technically a detention center for juvenile offenders, but many of the nearly 200 males held inside were aged over 18.
Twenty of the tattooed Barrio 18 inmates linked to the guards’ murders appeared in court on Tuesday, wearing white t-shirts and with their hands cuffed. Police stood guard behind them.