It all began with an anonymous email. From there, an investigation that included drones, recordings, and an alarm that went off by chance ended up dismantling a gang of tunnel diggers who had everything ready to rob two banks in the province of Buenos Aires. In recent hours, federal judge Jorge Rodríguez of Morón indicted the 12 suspects, including a former federal police officer who was discharged and a Uruguayan with a criminal record.
The complaint reached the Superintendence of Complex Crimes and Organized Crime Investigations of the Buenos Aires Police. It warned about an organization planning robberies using the tunnel-digging method at branches of Banco Nación in Morón and Banco Provincia in Baradero. Investigators set up an operation that included drone surveillance and remote tracking.
The plan was ambitious: in Morón, the gang targeted the branch at Avenida Rivadavia 18,000, where they intended to steal gold bars, dollars, and empty the safe deposit boxes. To do so, they planned to enter through two adjacent premises: a shoe store and a parking lot. In Baradero, the target was Banco Provincia, and they had already rented an adjacent hardware store to drill through the walls.
But something went wrong. When one of the indicted, Pablo Quiñones, entered the hardware store, an audible alarm went off. The store owner approached and saw that the ceiling was collapsed, with debris on the floor. The police, already on alert, intercepted the suspects as they tried to flee in several vehicles.
Among those arrested is Carlos Daniel Maidana, 59, a former federal police officer discharged in 1995. Maidana has a dark past: he was an informant for Adrián Baeta, a Buenos Aires sergeant linked to drug trafficking, and collaborated as a repentant witness in a case that ended the career of prosecutor Claudio Scapolan in San Isidro. Now, Judge Rodríguez indicted him with pretrial detention as co-author of aggravated robbery in a populated area and in a gang in attempted form, and illegal possession of a war weapon. He imposed a freeze on assets worth 30 million pesos.
Another indicted is Wilmar Antonio Pedraja Fernández, 53, a Uruguayan who lived in Ezpeleta. He had already been convicted in 2021 for aggravated robbery and use of false documents. Police sources describe him as «a craftsman of the tunnel.» Now, the judge indicted him as co-author of the same crime in attempted form.
In total, there are 12 indicted. Five of them were released without pretrial detention and could face a potential trial while free. The judicial ruling, 55 pages long, states that «the materiality of the facts is supported by documentary, testimonial, and expert evidence.» Judge Rodríguez and secretary Claudio Galdi highlighted that «the antisocial events referred to are duly accredited through the solid evidentiary structure analyzed.»
The gang had everything ready: tools to break walls, clothes, gloves, weapons, and even backpacks. But the hardware store alarm and the rapid police intervention prevented the heist from being carried out. Now, the tunnel diggers face justice, while the investigation continues to determine if there are more involved.
otra vez los zurditos con drones robando bancos para mi son todos unos negros de mierda menos mal que los agarraron pero seguro el juez comunista los suelta en dos dias viva la libertad carajo cadena perpetua ya
Para mí estos chorros de guante blanco son lo peor, querían chorear bancos y los agarraron como a nenes. Los delincuentes de verdad laburan, no se visten de traje. Viva la lucha de clases, abajo los explotadores. Esto huele a que el sistema genera esta basura.