(Bloomberg) — The weekend crash of a plane carrying millions in cash near the triple border of Brazil, Paraguay and Argentina prompted raids on local homes in search of the missing money, which people in the area said were carried out by Paraguayan police, Ultima Hora newspaper reported.
Early on Tuesday, four armed and masked men entered the property in Minga Guazu municipality in Paraguay’s southern Alto Paraná province in the border region and demanded money from the disaster, the paper said, citing a police report. The men left the house empty-handed.
The plane was carrying around $5 million belonging to the Paraguayan security company Prosegur, of which $1.3 million and 4 million Brazilian reals ($806,000) are missing, according to Ultima Hora.
Paraguayan national police were unable to find any money in five homes they raided on Tuesday while gathering information that could tie some locals to some of the missing cash, Ultima Hora officials said.
The newspaper said authorities were continuing their investigation despite complaints from local residents, but gave no official response to the allegations.
A similar incident occurred in Bolivia in February, when $62 million worth of local currency notes fell from the sky in a deadly plane crash in the country’s second largest city.
At least 22 were killed and no less than 37 injured when a military cargo plane crashed. Most of the victims were in vehicles near the airport and were hit by the plane.
More such stories are available at bloomberg.com
