The Investigative Police (PDI) detained 29 people on Thursday, October 8, in an operation across several municipalities in Concepción province, in the Biobío Region. 27 of them had outstanding judicial orders.
According to CNN Chile, the operation focused mainly on locating people wanted by the courts. La Tercera added that detectives from the various units of the Concepción Provincial Prefecture took part. Neither outlet specified which municipalities the detentions took place in.
Of the total, 14 people had outstanding detention warrants and another 13 had arrest orders. The distinction matters. A judge issues a detention warrant to bring someone before a court, for example when they are under investigation or failed to attend a hearing. An arrest order is usually a measure to compel compliance with a ruling, as in cases involving unpaid child support.
The sources do not report the offenses or cases associated with each order, nor do they provide case numbers (RIT or RUC, the codes used by the Judiciary and the Public Prosecutor’s Office to identify each proceeding).
That group was joined by two people detained in the act, meaning they were caught committing an offense or immediately afterward. One of those detentions followed an investigative action by the Concepción Robbery Investigation Brigade. The alleged offenses in those cases were not specified either.
The head of the Concepción Provincial Prefecture, Prefect Juan Luis Fonseca, told La Tercera that these operations seek to "send a clear message to the public: those with outstanding matters before the justice system must answer to the courts".
The available account comes solely from the PDI. The detainees must be brought before the court that issued each order, which will determine their situation. Those caught in the act undergo a detention review, the first hearing before a pretrial judge, whose outcomes have not been reported.
The PDI announced that it will continue targeted operations in the province to enforce court rulings.
