Argentina launches FBI-style federal investigations agency
June 26 (UPI) -- President Javier Milei has approved the creation of the Federal Investigations Department (DFI), a strategic step aimed at transforming the Argentine Federal Police (PFA) into a specialized federal criminal investigation agency.
The department's primary mission is to lead investigations into drug trafficking, organized crime, human trafficking, financial crimes and terrorism, replacing routine patrols with specialized investigative units.
National Security Minister Patricia Bullrich said Argentina needs a modern force with the real capacity to dismantle criminal organizations.
Bullrich said the DFI will be the core of the new federal police, which will no longer function as a uniformed force. It will be supported by state security and diplomatic protection services.
"It will focus all efforts on one key task: getting to the root of every criminal organization that seeks power and money in this country," she said.
The National Security Ministry will retain the National Gendarmerie, Airport Security Police and Federal Penitentiary Service as uniformed forces.
Bullrich said the new federal police will gradually become a force of detectives and specialized investigators serving the federal judiciary nationwide. She likened the DFI to the FBI.
The DFI will coordinate operations of the Superintendency for Drug Trafficking Investigations, the Federal Crimes Investigation Unit, regional and federal agencies, criminal intelligence units and other tactical support teams, including firefighters and Special Operations.
The DFI has been granted broad authority. One of its main roles is investigating drug trafficking networks in border provinces that have become major entry and exit points for large-scale shipments -- cocaine from Bolivia and marijuana from Paraguay.
Another priority is combating transnational organized crime groups, including Brazil's Primeiro Comando da Capital (PCC), Venezuela's Tren de Aragua and Italian and Russian mafias known to be active in Argentina.
A controversial provision allows the new force to monitor public digital spaces -- such as social media platforms and websites -- for preventive purposes. The new law governing the federal police provides a legal framework for investigating complex crimes, including technological surveillance, "while also guaranteeing respect for civil liberties and preventing abuses," the ministry said.
The department is also authorized to detain individuals for up to 10 hours to verify their identity if they cannot confirm who they are and are suspected of being wanted by the courts.
It is further empowered to launch investigations without prior court approval and will have access to both public and private databases.
The new law aims to professionalize both current and future personnel. Modeled after criminal intelligence agencies such as the FBI, the U.S. Department of Homeland Security and counterparts in Israel and the European Union, the department is expected to recruit university graduates, IT specialists and criminologists.
Political opposition and human rights groups have criticized the reforms.
The Center for Legal and Social Studies (CELS) warned that the lack of clarity in many provisions could open the door to criminalizing social organizations, suppressing protests, conducting mass digital surveillance of dissenters, and taking law enforcement action without judicial oversight.
Copyright 2025 UPI News Corporation. All Rights Reserved.
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
UPI
7 minutes ago
- UPI
Argentina orders trial in absentia for suspects in AMIA bombing in '94
June 26 (UPI) -- Ten Iranian and Lebanese suspects will be tried in absentia for killing 85 and injuring more than 300 at the Argentine Mutual Israelite Association in Buenos Aires in 1994. Argentine federal Judge Daniel Rafecas on Thursday applied the nation's new "trial in absentia" law to try the suspects for the terrorist bombing that is the deadliest terror attack in Argentina's history. The families of truck-bombing victims Mario Averbuch and Luis Czyzewski recently petitioned Rafecas to apply the new law and end years of delays in the matter. Officials in Argentina, the United States and Israel have accused Iran of ordering Hezbollah members to carry out the attack, The Times of Israel reported. The attack was the largest against a Jewish community that is located outside of Israel since the Holocaust, but no arrests have been made. Rafecas ordered 10 defendants to be tried, including current Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps leader Ahmad Vahidi. Other defendants to be tried in absentia include Ali Fallahijan, Ali Akbar Velayati, Mohsen Rezai, Hadi Soleimanpour and Mohsen Rabbani. Also to be tried are Ahmad Reza Asghari, Salman Raouf Salman, Abdallah Salman and Hussein Mounir Mouzannar. Argentine prosecutors in April also sought an arrest warrant for Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. A trial in absentia would help to "uncover the truth and reconstruct what happened" before and during the truck bombing attack, Rafecas said. He said the trial is justified due to the nature of the crime and that the suspects are unlikely to ever be tried in person or otherwise be held accountable. The named defendants are former Lebanese and Iranian diplomats and ministers, for whom Argentina has issued international warrants for their arrest. Iranian officials have denied any involvement in the bombing and refuse to arrest and extradite the suspects to Argentina.
Associated Press
19 minutes ago
- Associated Press
Argentina to put Iranians and Lebanese on trial in absentia over 1994 Jewish center bombing
BUENOS AIRES, Argentina (AP) — An Argentine judge on Thursday ordered that the seven Iranians and three Lebanese citizens accused of involvement in the 1994 bombing of a Jewish community center in Buenos Aires face trial in absentia for the first time in the long-running case plagued by setbacks and controversy. For years Argentine courts have ordered that the suspects — Iranian former officials and Lebanese nationals — be apprehended and brought before a judge because Argentina never allowed trials in absentia. Past efforts to encourage foreign governments to arrest the suspects, including an influential advisor to Iran's supreme leader, on the basis of Interpol red alerts never gained traction. But right-wing President Javier Milei, a loyal ally of Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and fierce critic of Iran who studies the Torah with a rabbi despite being born Catholic, pushed a bill through Congress earlier this year that authorizes trials in absentia for fugitives that have long sought to evade justice — allowing Argentina to put the defendants on trial for the first time. On Thursday, Judge Daniel Rafecas approved the trial in absentia following a request from the special prosecutor's office responsible for investigating the 1994 attack, the deadliest in the South American country's history, which killed 85 people two years after a separate bombing of the Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires killed 22 people. Rafecas described the trial as the only way to avoid impunity now more than 30 years after the bombing. 'Trial in absentia, however limited, remains a tool that allows us, at the very least, to attempt to uncover the truth, reconstruct what happened, and, above all, give those representing the victims a place to express themselves publicly in this process,' he wrote in his ruling. Last year, a high court in Argentina ruled that the Iranian government had masterminded the 1994 attack on the center, known by its acronym AMIA, and that members of Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah had carried it out. Iran has long denied any involvement in the attacks. Among the seven Iranians who are subject to Argentine arrest warrants are former Intelligence Minister Ali Fallahian, former commander of Iran's paramilitary Revolutionary Guard Mohsen Rezaei and former Foreign Minister Ali Akbar Velayati, who now advises Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei. The three Lebanese citizens include Salman Raouf Salman, who allegedly coordinated the attack, and fellow Hezbollah members Abdallah Salman and Hussein Mounir Mouzannar. All have been declared in contempt of court, in some cases decades ago. Advancing the AMIA case has been a key goal of Milei, who concluded a trip to Jerusalem on June 12, the night before Israel launched its unprecedented air campaign targeting Iran's nuclear sites and military leadership. Milei escalated his rhetoric against Iran and in support of Israel during the 12-day war between the regional foes, calling the Islamic republic 'an enemy of Argentina' and praising Israel as 'saving Western civilization.' ____ Follow AP's coverage of Latin America and the Caribbean at
UPI
38 minutes ago
- UPI
Border Patrol seizes fake Rolex watches and sunglasses in Pittsburgh
June 26 (UPI) -- U.S. Customs and Border Protection agents have seized a cache of counterfeit Rolex watches and designer sunglasses with a street value of more than $573,000, the agency announced Thursday. The items were headed to Pittsburgh and were intercepted by local CBP agents there. "The international trade in counterfeit consumer goods is illegal," a release from the CBP said. "It steals trademark holders and tax revenues from the government, it funds international criminal organizations, and the unregulated products can threaten the health and safety of American consumers." The label on the shipment, from the United Arab Emirates, was marked "Empty Poly Bag Ladies Hand Bags," but instead contained a half dozen counterfeit Rolex Perpetual Cosmograph Daytona watches, a pair of counterfeit Rolex Diamond iced-Out watches and counterfeit Burberry, Chanel, Gucci, Miu and Valentino sunglasses. Agents suspected that the watches and sunglasses were counterfeit and detained them for further inspection when they arrived in Pittsburgh. CBP sent photos and documentation to the Center of Excellence and Expertise and worked with trademark holders, which determined that the items were counterfeit and subject to immediate seizure by Border Patrol agents. "Unsuspecting consumers could be victimized twice by counterfeit products," a statement from James Hindes, CBP's acting port director in Pittsburgh, said, "such as these fake Rolex watches, because they may end up paying close to authentic prices for cheaper knockoffs, and they'll learn that the product isn't warrantied should it need repair." The seizure of the counterfeit Rolex watches and sunglasses in Pittsburgh comes just days after CBP intercepted 5 shipments of fake jewelry over 2 nights in Louisville, Ky. that would have been worth more than $25 million had it been authentic.
