Paraguay's Interior Minister Enrique Riera has proposed adopting a banking security system already in use in Brazil, which he says has reduced bank robberies in the neighboring country by up to 95%.
The proposal comes after a series of attacks on financial institutions recorded in the region and aims to make it harder for criminals to profit from such actions.
The mechanism involves installing a special device in bank vaults that, upon detecting a break-in or forced entry, cuts the stored bills and saturates them with security ink. As a result, the money is rendered completely unusable and loses its commercial value.
"We want to implement this because it is 100% effective and that would be the solution. There is no way you could keep the loot," Riera said, referring to the system deployed in Brazil.
The minister argued that the Brazilian experience demonstrates the effectiveness of this technology as a preventive tool, since it eliminates the main incentive of criminal groups: seizing cash.