Authorities continued working Monday to access a secured vault concealed behind a false wall at former Paraguayan President Santiago Peña’s mansion. (Foto: Instagram)
Paraguayan authorities searching former President Santiago Peña’s mansion in San Bernardino on Sunday, Nov. 8, found a false wall concealing a vault door equipped with advanced security systems. Police and prosecutors were still trying to open it on Monday, Nov. 9.
The door reportedly requires access codes, multiple verification steps and the owner’s iris recognition. Authorities have not said whether they have been able to bypass those safeguards.
Christian Benítez, a prosecutor with Paraguay’s Public Ministry, told ABC that he would seek help from specialists to determine how best to access the vault. Options under consideration include detonating the door or having Peña’s relatives go to the property. Benítez said Peña himself would not be sent there.
Benítez said detonation was only one possibility under review and that specialists would advise authorities on the safest or most suitable way to open the door. He said officials had not settled on a course of action and were consulting people who could guide them in opening what he described as a second gate.
Peña was impeached on Friday, Nov. 6, over his connection to Banco Ueno, which collapsed and triggered a major banking crisis in Paraguay, according to the account. Thousands of people were left unable to access money in their accounts. Peña was placed in preventive detention and is being held at the Presidential Escort Regiment in Asunción.
