Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos (L) shows data on the arrests of the suspects, Dec. 22, 2022. | Photo: Twitter/ @AmadaZurda

Caracas, December 23 (RHC)-- Venezuela's Interior Minister Remigio Ceballos has announced the capture of two alleged hitmen linked to the murder of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in Colombia.  Previously, Bolivarian authorities detained two subjects identified as Gabriel Salinas Mendoza and Carlos Gomez Gomez in the municipality of Chacao.

During a press conference, the Interior Minister recalled that Prosecutor Pecci had been conducting investigations into money laundering and drug trafficking before his murder.  Ceballos also showed a video in which the alleged assassins clearly stated that they had the order to assassinate the prosecutor.

In accordance with Venezuelan laws, the detained will not be extradited.  The Interior Minister, however, ratified his country's collaboration with the Colombian government.  Both citizens are currently complying with all the processes of the Venezuelan justice. 

In May, prosecutor Marcelo Pecci was assassinated while on his honeymoon on the Baru island, near Cartagena, in Colombia.  A hitman intercepted the Paraguayan official and fired three shots at him.  His wife, who was pregnant at the time, was unharmed in the attack.

One month later, Colombian justice sentenced four of Pecci's confessed murderers to over 23 years in prison.