Martinelli kidnap plot a fraud
A highly publicized plot to kidnap President Martinelli and turn him over to the Colombian guerrilla organization FARC has been declared a fraud.
A judge has ordered the release of three people, after determining that the plot was fabricated, They were arrested and jailed in January 2010.
Criminal Court Judge Manuel Correa ordered the three defendants to be released immediately and their belongings returned to them. His decision was based on the findings of an investigation that revealed that one of the defendants Puerto Rican citizen Isaac Polanco invented the plot to obtain money in exchange for information.
Javier Kennion and his brother, Benjamin Kennion, members of the Institutional Protection Service, said they met with Polanco, but refused to participate in the plot. The three allegedly plotted to kidnap the president turn him over to FARC to be ransomed.
Polanco was handed over to Immigration to be deported. Benjamin Kennion was released, but has been removed from the service. His brother is in jail facing other charges.
At the time of revelations of the “plot” President Martinelli beefed up his security by hiring y guards from Israel.