Cliff Notes
- Three young women were abducted, tortured, and murdered by a drug gang in Argentina, with the crime livestreamed to about 45 viewers on a private social media group.
- Their bodies were discovered buried in a garden, after they were lured to a house under false pretenses linked to drug trafficking activities.
- The Buenos Aires Ministry of Women and Diversity has classified the incident as femicide, highlighting it as a severe case of gender-based violence, with four arrests made in connection to the case.
Three young women tortured and murdered by drug gang – all captured live on social media | World News
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Three young women were tortured, raped and murdered by an Argentinian drug gang – who captured it all live on social media.
Security minister Javier Alonso said the horrific crime was watched by about 45 people in a closed social media livestream group.
Brenda del Castillo, Morena Verdi, and Lara Gutiérrez went missing on Friday. But police have now confirmed their bodies have been found buried in the garden of a house in the southern outskirts of Buenos Aires.
Detectives believe they were tricked into going to the property by their murderers.
Mr Alonso said: “They were last seen getting into a vehicle voluntarily because they had been invited to an event, not knowing they were falling into a trap set for them by an international drugs trafficking gang which had hatched a plan to kill them.
“The torture session was streamed live on social media – not recorded, broadcast live – to a private Instagram group, and apparently about 45 people watched it.
“The drug trafficking organisation has its operational command in Buenos Aires and they had chosen this house to carry out the murders.”
‘Brutal dehumanisation’
The Buenos Aires Ministry of Women and Diversity said the crime was a femicide – “the most extreme expressions of gender-based violence”.
“We accompany their families and loved ones in their grief.”
Wasteland
The young women were last seen on CCTV footage from Friday evening, which showed them getting into a white pickup truck.
Their bodies were found at the house where their mobile phone signal was last detected.
The burned-out truck was later found in a section of wasteland 100m from the house.
Four people have so far been arrested.
A spokesperson for Meta said it had not found “any evidence of the livestream taking place on Instagram”.
They added: “Our team continues to cooperate with law enforcement as they investigate this horrific crime.”