2024-04-04 17:20:35
General Pablo Ramírez, who previously served as director of the SNAI and is currently facing charges of organized crime in the Metastasis case, has confirmed having met Leandro Norero in the Cotopaxi prison, as stated by Marcelo Lasso Saavedra, a close friend and colleague. of the drug trafficker’s cell.
Likewise, he noted that this meeting was captured by the prison’s security cameras.
In the version given before the deputy prosecutor, Pablo Ramírez said:
“… I had only one contact with Mr. Norero (…) it was on July 4, 2022…”.
“… I had to go to this center because there was an information alert of risk to the lives of the police officers who were in this center…”.
“…two people deprived of liberty approached me, Mr. Norero, whom I later met, and a man with the second last name Saavedra. I also asked both of them if they were in good health and safety conditions and if there was anything they wanted to tell me about…”
Ramírez denied that the meeting was an act of gratitude for the alleged USD 200,000 that the drug trafficker had given him as compensation for the facilities granted in prison. According to the story of Norero’s friend, this money was received in cash in Guayaquil by Helive Angulo, alias “Estimado”, another of Norero’s collaborators.
The prosecutor questioned the former director of the SNAI about the incident that led to a change in his agenda, taking him to the Cotopaxi regional center to attend to an alert related to the police officers detained in the transitional section, who coincidentally shared the same pavilion with Leandro Norero.
- Prosecutor: “Did you present a report, is there any document with which you can verify this fact?”
- Pablo Ramírez: “no, it was an information alert, the alerts were from the police officers that I mentioned were in that place.”
Pablo Ramírez assured the prosecutor that the security team that accompanied him on that date can confirm that his meeting with Norero and Lasso Saavedra was brief, casual and solely to inquire about their state of health.