Journalists in Cali and robbers in Medellin ended up wearing bullet proof vests that Colombia’s Police was supposed to destroy.
Bogota authorities announced an investigation on Monday after the arrest of Medellin robbers revealed they were wearing vests that were originally sold to the capital city’s Vigilance and Security Fund.
The manufacturer of the vests, Miguel Caballero, said Monday that the vests found in Medellin were given to the Bogota police department because they had expired and needed to be destroyed.
The director of press freedom foundation FLIP told Blu Radio on Tuesday that journalists were given vests from the same 2012 shipment during anti-government protests in May.
According to FLIP director Jonathan Bock, the press freedom foundation had bought the vests from Baraya, a shop across the street from the military academy in northern Bogota.
According to Caballero, the serial numbers of the vests that were given to journalists showed that they were from the same batch as the ones used in the robbery of a gold foundry in Medellin last week.
Both Bock and Caballero said they had asked the Prosecutor General’s Office to investigate how the vests ended up being sold in shops instead of being destroyed by the police.
According to Blu Radio, the Bogota shop sold press freedom foundations 40 vests for more than $9,200 (COP35.8 million) to protect journalists who found themselves under fire while covering anti-government protests.
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Caballero told the radio station that his company had asked the prosecution the apparent illegal trade weeks ago already.
Bogota Security Secretary Anibal Fernandez announced an investigation last week after Caballero recognized his firms’ vests in photos that were released after the robbery in Medellin last week.
According to Caballero, the vests were sold to the Bogota Vigilance and Security Fund in 2012 and given to the police after they expired in 2016.
Bock told Blu Radio that the FLIP had already asked to investigate the shop that allegedly refused to take back the illegal vests.
When we went to return the equipment they had a very aggressive attitude, they called the police, the relationship with them has been very difficult, they do not give any explanation for anything and that is why we decided to take legal action against them.
FLIP director Jonathan Bock
How the Bogota shop received the vests from the Bogota police and whether Baraya sold the vests to the Medellin robbers is uncertain.
