Well this is embarrassing.
Argentina's government appeared to have celebrated the capture of three criminals convicted of drug gang-related killings a little sooner than they should have.
On Saturday, Argentinian officials claimed they have successfully captured three of the South American country's most notorious criminals who escaped a maximum-security prison almost two weeks ago. The massive search involved the participation of many law enforcement authorities, including police commandos, sharpshooters and helicopters, among others.
President Mauricio Macri's office claimed that they caught the three northwest of Buenos Aires, according to the BBC.
This called for a celebration of course, and celebrate was what Argentina's government did. President Macri even congratulated the security forces via Twitter.
Apparently, however, only one of the fugitives had been captured.
We don't know exactly what happened here, but hours following the announcement and the untoward celebration, Argentina's federal police chief admitted that two of the criminals were still at large, according to Reuters.
Only Martin Lanatta, one of the three men, was transferred via armed guard from a Santa Fe local police station going to the country's capital, Buenos Aires.
As the truth was revealed, events unfolded with intensified confusion. Authorities are now continuing the search for the two other fugitives - Cristian, Lanatta's brother, and a third man, Victor Schillaci.
"We're still looking for the other fugitives," according to the head of the Argentine Federal Police force, Roman Di Santo.
It's quite an embarrassing blow to the new government as the manhunt for the three Argentinian fugitives involved 13 captivating days closely watched by the country.
What went wrong?
According to Macri's security minister Patricia Bullrich, the government had been mislead.
"There will be a full investigation into this false information, which might have been meant to give the other two time to make good their escape," Bullrich announced in Santa Fe.
Apparently, the prosecutors' office in the town of Cayasta made a statement saying that they had already captured the three when the vehicle Martin Lanatta was in flipped over and another vehicle got stuck in the mud.
Apparently, the two others that Martin was with escaped on foot.
The three men were charged with kidnapping and murdering three men linked to a drug trafficking ring. They were supposed to be serving life in prison.
Macri, who took over as President following the December elections in Argentina, had blamed the previous administration of Cristina Fernandez de Kirchner of doing little to prevent drug crime in the South American country.
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