A Civil Guard officer and two other men arrested for the murder of a suspected smuggler

BarcelonaIt was an unusual crime. It was January 25, 2022, in a rural area with difficult access, in the Barony of Rialb, in the Noguera region. A 61-year-old man was fatally shot in the chest in the middle of the forest. It was a long-range shot, fired from more than 100 meters away, and only one bullet was needed to end his life. The victim's name was Joan Coromina, and when police investigators heard that name, it quickly seemed familiar.

Joan Coromina was a man who had allegedly had links with smuggling, or at least had been investigated several times by the police, especially the Civil Guard, for this reason, according to police sources told ARA. The same sources indicate that the victim's links with the Civil Guard were frequent in the past. The fact that they knew him led the Spanish police to also be involved in the investigation of his crime. A murder that, three years later, is beginning to be solved: the Civil Guard and the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) have arrested three men for their alleged involvement in the crime. The police have found the answers in the victim's immediate surroundings.

One of those arrested is a 63-year-old retired Civil Guard commander who had been linked to the fight against smuggling in the Lleida area. He had been retired for three years and is now accused of revealing secrets and participating in the crime. His arrest was made by officers from the Civil Guard's Internal Affairs Unit. The second person arrested is a 55-year-old man who was a friend of the victim. Furthermore, this suspect is a relative of Catalan MotoGP riders Marc and Alex Márquez. The third person arrested for the crime is the owner of a mechanic's workshop in Lleida. All of them were arrested this Tuesday by police at various locations in Catalonia, after years of a secret investigation by the Mossos d'Esquadra (Catalan police) and the Civil Guard.

The police are working on the hypothesis that the three detainees are involved in the murder, but they have not ruled out the possibility that the person who pulled the trigger from a distance was a hitman. At this time, police sources have not specified the motive for the crime, although they point to the victim's alleged economic activity—smuggling, through which he could have achieved a high level of purchasing power—as a possible trigger for the murder. The investigation has focused on analyzing the victim's property network, his alleged past as a smuggler, and his surroundings. However, the police suspect that he was followed that day to the grounds of the Barony of Rialp, and have conducted an exhaustive analysis of the locations of several cell phones. The bullet that struck the victim has also been thoroughly investigated.

Interrogations

The Márquez family member, according to Efe, was questioned this Wednesday at the Mossos d'Esquadra police station in Cervera (Segarra). They were childhood friends with the victim, having shared a boarding school. Catalan police have carried out several investigative procedures today before handing the detainees over to the investigating court in Solsona (Solsonès), which is investigating the case. In the case of the MotoGP riders' relative, the Mossos d'Esquadra raided the jewelry store he runs in Cervera on Wednesday. The arrested Civil Guard commander also visited the station, but refused to testify. The three detainees will be brought before the court this Thursday. The investigation is under seal.