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ARGENTINA | 20-05-2019 10:53

Prosecutor Carlos Stornelli's son suffers alleged bomb scare

City Police explosive experts detonate device, made of plastic and cables, that was later identified as a replica of a bomb. Authorities are treating the incident as a "threat" to Prosecutor Stornelli.

An object made up of plastic tubes wrapped in cables, which investigators believe was designed to look like a bomb, was detonated by explosives experts in the capital on Sunday night. The device was left just metres from the Palermo home of the son of Carlos Stornelli, the high-profile prosecutor probing alleged corruption involving former president Cristina Fernández de Kirchner.

Stornelli is leading pre-trial investigations for several major corruption cases. He is also subject to investigation for his own alleged dealings with a murky underground espionaje network, facing allegations of influence peddling and bribery.

City Police bomb experts safely detonated the device, which was left on Castex street in the Palermo neighbourhood, on Sunday evening. Authorities said later that the object was a replica of a bomb.

The incident is the latest in a string of seemingly unrelated security scares involving people at the heart of Argentina's politics and Judiciary.

Last week, a man was caught trying to enter Government House carrying a revolver, claiming he had an appointment with President Mauricio Macri. Just days earlier, national deputy for La Rioja, Héctor Olivares, and La Rioja provincial official Miguel Yadón, were shot outside the country's Congress building. Yadón died before making it to hospital, Olivares passed away a few days later.

'STRONG THREAT'

"An artefact which looked like a bomb was found, but it was not explosive," Security Minister Patricia Bullrich told the Todo Noticias news network after the most recent attack.

She described the incident as "a strong threat" in which the person responsible "wanted to make it known that they knew where the prosecutor's family lives".

"It is an attempt to bring anxiety and fear to the prosecutor via his family. It is a message aimed at the Judiciary and the prosecutor's work," she added.

There are no security cameras along Castex street, Bullrich said, that can assist with attempts to identify the perpetrators.

This is not the first such incident involving members of the legal profession. Claudio Bonadio, the federal judge presiding over some of the corruption cases involving the former president suffered a similar scare at his own home in Belgrano last November, when a suspicious package was found just metres from his property.

-TIMES

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