El Salvador's police director and a fugitive banker are among 9 dead in a helicopter crash

Source: Associated Press

El Salvador’s police director and a fugitive banker are among 9 dead in a helicopter crash

By MARCOS ALEMÁN
Updated 12:51 AM EDT, September 10, 2024

SAN SALVADOR, El Salvador (AP) — El Salvador’s military says the national police director, other high-ranking police officials and a fugitive banker were among nine people killed in a military helicopter crash in a rural part of the country.

The cause of the crash on Sunday night is under investigation. It occurred after the banker, Manuel Coto, was captured in Honduras over the weekend and handed over to Salvadoran authorities at the border.

Coto, the former manager of the COSAVI savings and loan cooperative, had been the subject of an Interpol arrest warrant and one of 32 people implicated in the embezzlement of more than $35 million by the cooperative’s directors and employees.

El Salvador’s military in a post on X said the air force helicopter crash occurred in the area of San Eduardo, Pasaquina, La Union. It said the director general of the National Civil Police, Mauricio Arriaza Chicas, and two deputies were aboard.

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Read more: https://apnews.com/article/el-salvador-helicopter-crash-police-801896ce2322d2eb329dd9f5e5e3c6fd