Received 17/09/2019
Chillán, Chile: An explosive device at the headquarters of the Chilean police was deactivated a few hours before the arrival of President Piñera (August 20, 2019)
During the early hours of August 20, 2019, in Chillán, a suspicious object attracted the attention of the security device implemented pending the visit of President Sebastián Piñera.
Outside the main investigative barracks of the PDI (“Policía de Investigaciones de Chile”, which together with the Carabineros de Chile is one of the two police bodies of the Chilean State), located in Vega de Saldías, and which borders a police headquarters located in the center of Chillán, an explosive device was deposited without initially arousing suspicion.
After some time the police succeed in detecting the bomb, composed of a fire extinguisher filled with a kilo of black powder and activated by a clockwork system that apparently would not have worked or would have been deactivated by the police.
The staff of the GOPE (“Grupo de Operaciones Policiales Especiales”, part of the Carabineros de Chile) and various police departments quickly went to the site to examine the cameras and the device.
The Chilean Interior Minister, Andrés Chadwick, said to the press: “an explosive device was actually placed in a headquarters of the investigative police and was detected in time and then deactivated […], I have not yet been in able to know the results of the experts’ appraisals […], what greatness or power could have, I am waiting for the expert opinions to form an idea”.
So far no group has claimed responsibility for the location of the explosive device.
