The Specialized Court for Organized Crime convicted five people on Wednesday, August 19, for involvement in the Scanner case, which dismantled a cocaine trafficking network at Silvio Pettirossi International Airport. Luis Alberto Servián Zárate, former security manager of the airport terminal and considered the "mastermind" of the scheme, received the harshest sentence: 14 years in prison for drug trafficking.
The other convicts are Ramón Isacio Arrúa Fernández, also a former security manager, with 4 years and 6 months; X-ray supervisor Basilio Darío Rodríguez Hetter, with 4 years; scanner operator Martha Liliana Coronel De Chávez, with 3 years and 6 months; and Eliana Beatriz Cardozo Ramírez, identified as the "mule" carrying the drugs, with 4 years and 6 months. The court, composed of judges Juan Dávalos, Inés Galarza, and Pablino Barreto, acquitted lawyer Carlos Adrián Duarte Vera due to reasonable doubt about his participation.
The network was dismantled on October 11, 2023, when a random check at the airport caught Eliana Cardozo with cocaine in her luggage. She was about to board an Air Europa flight to Madrid, Spain. The court considered it proven that airport employees coordinated actions so that the "mule's" control procedure would be conducted in a scanner area reserved for diplomats and crew members, bypassing security protocols.
Anti-drug prosecutor Andrés Arriola, who had requested sentences of 8 to 16 years for the accused, criticized the ruling and announced he would appeal. He argues that the court did not consider all the compelling evidence presented during the oral trial.
In addition to the convictions, the court decided to refer background materials to the Public Ministry to investigate Liberal Senator Líder Amarilla and other airport employees, whose names allegedly appeared in messages related to the case. The information about the senator's investigation was reported by La Nación but was not immediately corroborated by other official sources.
The judges also ordered the confiscation of seized cash, the destruction of cell phones and drugs, and the return of cars and other belongings to lawyer Carlos Duarte.