Thieves steal 16 tons of meat from refrigerated warehouse

SANTIAGO.- Six armed assailants store sixteen metric tons of Paraguayan beef, valued at some $120 million pesos, early this morning after breaking into the Servifrío refrigerated warehouse in the municipality of El Bosque.

The incident took place at approximately 3:00 am this morning, when the individuals jumped the front gate to the premises and then proceeded to tie up two guards and a machine operator, locking them in a room. The merchandise was then loaded into two trucks that arrived 30 minutes later.

"I was going to call my wife on the phone when six people came in with handguns. They tied us up, covered our heads and real friendly-like, used swear words to ask us for the keys", one of the victims (who did not wish to reveal their identity) told Radio Cooperativa.

A few hours later, one of the trucks loaded with eight tons of stolen beef (valued at $50 million pesos) was found in the municipality of Lo Prado.

After a routine check revealed that those inside the truck did not possess a delivery certificate, the driver of the vehicle and his accomplice were taken to the 44th Commissary of Lo Prado for questioning.

Meanwhile, the whereabouts of the second truck remain unknown.