Colombian cop in hospital after gobbling extorted banknotes
A corrupt Colombian cop was taken to hospital after he swallowed a wad of banknotes worth 500,000 pesos (S$161) he had extorted from a businessman.
The police officer had pressured his victim for money in exchange for not arresting him on trumped-up charges, British daily The Guardian reported on Thursday.
But the policeman did not know that the businessman had alerted the South American country’s anti-kidnapping and extortion unit about his meeting with the cop in Soacha, a suburb of the capital Bogota.
When anti-corruption officers arrived, the cop ingested the nine notes in the hopes of destroying evidence.
However, he choked on the notes and had to be sent to an emergency clinic. Videos seen by The Guardian show the cop pleading his innocence while gasping for breath in a police van.
He was heard saying: “I have received nothing, absolutely nothing, I don’t know what they are talking about.”
One anti-corruption officer who was administering medical aid said the cop had to be taken to the hospital, where doctors were able to remove the cash from his stomach.
The director of a local attorney’s office told local media outlets that the paper bills are made of a strong material and are not easily digested.
Memes related to the long-running American animated series The Simpsons surfaced on social media mocking the cop’s desperate attempt to escape justice.
Corruption is common among Colombia’s police and the video clip of the money-eating cop offers relief to those who have been pressured to hand over money to officers.
A business owner, Mr Camilo Lopez, told The Guardian that two police officers had falsely accused him of a sexual crime to pressure him into handing over two million pesos.
He was able to gather only half the amount, and was hauled to a police station as the officers had hoped to receive the full sum. The two officers are under investigation.
Said Mr Lopez: “It’s basically another income for them, their overtime, so it’s a bit of relief to see them face justice.”
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