PDI arrests women shoplifting in mall in eastern Santiago

SANTIAGO.- After receiving several reports and investigating the matter, officers belonging to the Bureau of Police Investigations (PDI) managed to capture a group of women working as "lanzas", or street thieves, at a number of malls in the eastern sector of Santiago.

According to Radio Cooperativa, the arrest was performed by officials belonging to the Criminal Investigative Brigade thanks to information provided to them by a Korean woman that was robbed yesterday by the women.

The women were identified as 39 year-old Jessica Chehuencura Chehuencura and 40 year-old Natalia Prieto Valdenegro, who initially denied involvement in the robbery. Nevertheless, one of the women possessed a criminal record for shoplifting in another country.

According to Commissary Officer of the PDI José Abarca, the women "had been working at shopping centers in the eastern sector of the capital; one of them was even identified as a known international thief".

After being booked, both women will be arraigned at the Santiago Justice Center on charges of theft.