Escape artist on Interpol most wanted list

GILBERTO VENTURA CEBALLOS,  who has a $50,000 reward on his head  since his escape from La Joyita prison on December 28, is now on Interpol’s most wanted list.

He was one of those involved in the kidnapping and murder of five young people of Asian descent in La Chorrera,  five years ago

In 2011, Ventura was arrested by the Dominican Republic Police and extradited to Panama, as allegedly implicated in the death of  the five Panamanian youths between 2010 and 2011.

He was caught in the Andrés district , in Boca Chica in Santo Domingo, submerged in  a tank full of water to try to evade police. He had dyed his hair and erased his fingerprints.

The fugitive, was  involved in the crime along with another Dominican, José Alcibíades Méndez, who buried the victims in the garden of his house in La Chorrera.

Because of his escape record he should  have been in a more secure pavilion said the former director of the Penitentiary System.

In 2004, Ventura fled a prison in the Dominican Republic where he was in prison for the kidnapping of a Chinese merchant.

The suspect also used passports with the identities of Fermín Antonio Taveras Ramírez and Ángel Betancourt.

The  Panama National Police have offered of $50,000. For information leading to his arrest.