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Daily Mirror
Daily Mirror
World
Tim Hanlon

Anti-Mafia prosecutor shot dead on honeymoon the same day couple revealed pregnancy

A Paraguayan prosecutor known for his work in fighting organized crime, was killed on the Colombian tourism island of Baru, the same day as he and his wife announced she was pregnant.

Colombian authorities have said they believe the assassins arrived by jet skis to the beach where Marcelo Pecci was relaxing and killed him with three shots fired on Tuesday.

Pecci and his wife, Paraguayan journalist Claudia Aguilera were on their honeymoon at a resort near the Caribbean city of Cartagena after getting married on April 30.

They had announced Aguilera's pregnancy on Instagram earlier on Tuesday.

Ms Aguilera told Paraguayan media the couple had finished breakfast and were approached by two men on a private beach connected to their hotel before her husband was shot.

Marcelo Pecci was killed on his honeymoon in Colombia (MINISTERIO PUBLICO DE PARAGUAY/A)

He had not received threats, she added.

Pecci, 45, was known for his work on high-profile anti-money laundering and anti-drug cases, the investigation into the murder of a regional governor's daughter last year and the case against Brazilian footballer Ronaldinho, who was arrested trying to enter Paraguay with an adulterated Paraguayan passport in 2020.

A delegation of Paraguayan police will join the investigation, Colombia's national police chief General Jorge Luis Vargas said in a video message on Tuesday.

"We have information that is being collected in urgent efforts and which is confidential which will help us to identify
those responsible for this regrettable occurrence," General Vargas said.

Colombian police have released an image they believe could be one of the assassins (Colombia National Police)

Officials from the United States will also aid the investigation, he said.

General Vargas offered a reward of about $122,000 for information that could help solve the crime as well as identify people suspected of being involved in the case.

"We need to identify them, to urgently uncover their possible connection to the events, to Pecci's murder," he said,
adding that authorities had deployed officers at airports and on the roads.

Paraguayan President Marcelo Abdo said the "cowardly assassination of the prosecutor Marcelo Pecci in Colombia
saddens all of the Paraguayan nation".

"We condemn in the most energetic terms this tragic occurrence and redouble our commitment in the fight against
organized crime," he said on Twitter.

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