In 20 months, a Group of pirate taxi drivers murdered 23 people and abandoned the bodies on public roads, according to investigations. The band offered their victims alcoholic beverages mixed with medications to treat depression and anxiety, which caused them the loss of knowledge. Then they kidnapped them and stripped them of their belongings. Because it is a controlled use medication, an excessive dose and mixed with alcohol, caused death to 23 victims.
Medicine experts confirm that antidepressants and antipsychotics used by the structure of pirate taxi drivers can only be sold with medical recipe.
From January 2023 to August 2024, a group of 18 alleged criminals coordinated to reach the bars and gas stations of the department of Guatemala, to capture potential victims who consumed alcoholic beverages.
During 20 raids, the National Civil Police and the Public Ministry captured 12 of the suspects, including two agents who apparently collaborated with the criminal structure.
The analysis of the National Institute of Forensic Sciences (INACIF) determined that the band of pirate taxi drivers supplied medications such as benzodiazepines, clonazepam, zolpidem, balance, isopropanol, quetiapine and chloriazepoxideto mix with alcoholic beverages in some cases caused the collapse of people’s pancreas.
Medicine experts agreed that these drugs should be sold under a medical recipe and that the authorities would have to regulate pharmacies to comply with the restriction.
José Ernesto Galdámez Samayoa, Forensic Doctor and Criminalist, said the drugs used by the criminal band are controlled sales. The responsibility for selling medications without a recipe endorsed by a doctor, said Galdámez, is the responsibility of pharmacies.
The doctor explained that the chloriazepoxide It is an anxiolytic agent derived from benzodiazepineswith sedation, anxiolysis and muscle relaxation properties. The Quetiapinait continued, it is an antipsychotic, it is used to treat schizophrenia and manic and depressive episodes of severe bipolar disorder, in addition to calming people.
Meanwhile, the clonazepam It is a drug benzodiazepine that acts on the central nervous system and has anxiolytic, anticonvulsing, muscle relaxants, sedative, hypnotic and stabilizers of the mood, according to Galdámez.
Samayoa indicated that these medications, in high doses, can cause respiratory paralysis and death. “These medications enhance their effects when mixed with each other or with alcoholic beverages,” he said.
Ricardo López Melgar, a psychiatrist with a subspecialty in neuropsychopharmacology, acknowledged that the medications used by the criminal band are hypnotic and, in some variants, antipsychotics.
He added that these drugs are prescribed to people suffering from anxiety crisis, alterations in sleep regulation, hypertension and heart rate disorders.
How to attend people with medication overdose?
Iris Cazali, head of infectious diseases of the Roosevelt Hospital, explained that, to avoid the death of people who have ingested high doses of medicines that affect the nervous and respiratory system, they need to be practiced gastric lavage and administer flumazenyl, which reverses the effects of these drugs.
The most important thing, ”he said – is to detect intoxication early to apply measures, because medications, which are benzodiazepines, have a relatively rapid absorption.
Galdámez and Melgar warn that in Guatemala there is specific legislation on The sale and distribution of certain medicationsespecially anxiolytics, sedatives, benzodiazepines and the like.
“We can find specific regulation from Decree 90-97, which is the Health Code, through the laws against narcoactivity and the Government Agreement 712-99, which establishes the regulation for the health control of medicines and related products,” said José Galdámez.
Melgar argued that, within the legal framework in Guatemala, benzodiazepines and hypnotics are under control as mandatory prescription medications, but the problem is that pharmacies sell them without a medical recipe. “There are mismatches in regulation and there may be lack of supervision in some establishments, especially small pharmacies. The World Health Organization and the International Narcotics Board insist on better control,” he said.
Melgar explained that there is no adequate control over small and informal pharmacies, this is added to smuggling medications.
“The ease of access and lack of control allow access to benzodiazepines without adequate medical supervision. Even sometimes they can be purchased even online,” he said.
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✅ MP disarticulates structure “Pirates of Death” with the capture of 12 people
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