By EFE
Aug 16, 2024, 1:54 PM EDT
The Colombian government ordered to reinforce the security of the Supreme Court of Justice and other judicial headquarters in the country, after the security alert issued by the Police after finding, in an operation in Bogotá, explosives and a model of the capital’s Palace of Justice.
“From the moment the situation became known, the Government, in close collaboration with the National Police and the Army, has reinforced security at the Palace of Justice in Bogotá,” the Colombian Presidency announced on Friday in a statement in which it claims to have “advanced surveillance systems,” “explosive-proof equipment” and “drones for continuous monitoring.”
The alert was issued on Thursday, after explosives were found next to the plans of the Palace of Justice in two raids in the south of the Colombian capital, and after which the Colombian president, Gustavo Petroheld an extraordinary security council where it was also ordered to increase protection measures in other judicial headquarters in the country.
#Urgent | These are images of a model of the Palace of Justice, along with several bags containing explosives and weapons, which would have been used to plan an attack against the Palace facilities. pic.twitter.com/o4ZTX2gdF0
— RCN Radio (@rcnradio) August 16, 2024
The president of the Supreme Court, Gerson Chaverra, confirmed to the media the discovery of the explosives and the model and assured that “given this objective reality, it is necessary to adopt objective security measures that reinforce the Palace of Justice to prevent a terrorist attack from being carried out“.
For the moment, he confirmed that the Police has launched a reinforcement plan with 45 police officers inside the Palace of Justicea symbolic building since on November 6, 1985 it was occupied by the guerrilla group Movimiento 19 de Abril (M-19) and recovered the following day, after 28 hours of fighting and bombings by the Army, in an operation that left nearly a hundred dead and 11 missing.
For now It is unknown to which group the explosives belongbut the Prosecutor’s Office has already confirmed that it has begun an “investigation and is on the trail of these events.”
In addition, the president of the Supreme Court, who has already met with the Police and the Army to learn about the security reinforcement plan, confirmed that for the moment there is no report that any member of this high court has received threats.
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