Guatemala’s National Civil Police (PNC) captured four Salvadoran nationals—alleged members of the Mara Salvatrucha gang—following a pursuit along the road circling Lake Amatitlán. The operation resulted in the seizure of weapons, ammunition, phones, and an apparently forged identity document.
The intervention took place at kilometer 35.5 of the road, after officers from Precinct 15 received an alert regarding several armed men firing shots into the air. According to the police report, officers located a car with Salvadoran license plates; the occupants attempted to flee upon noticing the approaching patrol vehicle.
The detainees were identified as Luis Fernando Jiménez Pérez (26), Francisco Ibarra Santacruz (19), Alexander Cuellar Pineda (27), and José Ángel Ramírez (28).
During a search of the vehicle—which bore the Salvadoran license plate P-155DB—police seized two firearms, 24 rounds of 5.56mm rifle ammunition, and 20 rounds of 9mm pistol ammunition. They also confiscated five cell phones and the car in which the four men had been traveling.
