The Chilean authorities arrested the suspect of planting the bomb that exploded on September 8 in a Santiago Metro station early Thursday morning and left 14 injured. They also arrested two other people, as accomplices.
The detainee is also credited with placing other artifacts in the Chilean capital and is linked to anarchist cells, according to local media.
The man was arrested after 2:30 a.m. (local time), in the La Pintana commune, by order of the chief prosecutor for Organized Crime, Héctor Barros, and the dedicated prosecutor Christián Toledo.
According to government sources, the investigation into the attack that occurred in a commercial gallery of the Escuela Militar metro station on September 8 led to the determination of the relationship of the arrested person with the planting of the bomb that exploded on July 12 in a subway car in Santiago
In addition, his relationship with two explosives placed in two police stations is suspected.
previous arrests
The one at dawn this Thursday was not the first of the arrests related to the case.
On September 12, authorities arrested three people carrying explosive materials in the northern city of Antofagasta.
These materials turned out to be, according to official sources, “more explosive” than those used in the attack on September 8.
The arrest occurred at dawn, after the vehicle in which the three arrested men were traveling ran a red light and was stopped by the police.
Authorities are still investigating responsibility for the Santiago metro explosion, which has not been claimed.
“State Issues”
The president of Chile, Michelle Bachelet, said that it is a “state issue” to arrest the perpetrators of what she called a “terrorist act.”
“We are going to apply the full weight of the law to those who are responsible, our hands will not tremble in the face of actions like this,” said the president after heading the Security Operations Council at the presidential headquarters, La Moneda.
That of September 8 was the worst attack with explosives in Chile since the return of democracy in 1990, but not the only one.
So far this year there were about 30 in Santiago.
And according to the newspaper The MercuryA total of 198 explosive devices have been installed since 2005 in ATMs, banks, gyms, embassies, restaurants, subway stations and even in front of a church and a nursery.