The confessed killers of Paraguayan prosecutor Marcelo Pecci traced his whereabouts through his wife’s social media posts as part of a multi-day plot in Colombia, according to investigation details revealed Tuesday (7).

The people who “participated” in the attack, most of whom were arrested on Friday (3), “gathered to combine the crime with various functions within the operation” since May 5 in the city of Medellin, the Colombian Attorney General said. Francisco Barbosa at a press conference.

Pecci specialized in organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist financing. Photo: Daniel Duarte/AFP/ND

At the age of 45, Pecci was shot dead on May 10 on the island of Baru, near Cartagena, where he was on his honeymoon. Five of those involved in the crime were arrested on Friday in Medellin, Barbosa said, and four of them pleaded guilty. A sixth person is still on the run and appears to be in Venezuela.

The “criminal structure” was led by Francisco Correa, who made contact with the militant who shot at Pecci from the sea, on a jet ski, in front of his wife Claudia Aguilera. Two other members, identified by the prosecutor as Cristian Gonzalez and Marisol Londoño, were in charge of “hunting and searching” for the couple.

“The perpetrators said that on many occasions they lost track of the couple. However, thanks to social media, they were able to locate the Paraguayan prosecutor before he was killed in a hotel, Barbosa added.

Surveillance footage provided by the Ministry of Public Affairs shows Pecci and his wife sunbathing on sun loungers when the gunman arrives with the driver of the vehicle. After cutting the image sequence, both run away.

The authorities have not yet established who ordered the murder. According to Colombia’s public ministry, the perpetrators shared a reward of about $530,000.

For his part, the director of the Colombian police, General Jorge Luis Vargas, said he had information about an old plan by the Brazilian criminal organization PCC (Primeiro Comando da Capital) to “perfect” an attack on Pecchi in Paraguay, but which ultimately was not carried out.

Pecci, who specializes in organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering and terrorist financing, has been investigating Brazilian and Lebanese criminal gangs that launder money on the triple border between Paraguay, Brazil and Argentina. Pecci has also been at the forefront of high-profile media cases, such as the kidnapping and murder of the daughter of former Paraguayan President Raúl Cubas (1998-1999) in 2005 and the trial of former football player Ronaldinho, who was detained in Asuncion for forging documents.