Journalist who reported on robbery shot dead, prosecutor’s office bombed in Peru.

A journalist covering Peru’s robbery epidemic was shot dead on Monday and two people were wounded in a bomb attack on a prosecutor’s office, officials said.

The owner and producer of a regional television station, Gaston Medina, was shot dead while leaving his home in the south-central town of Ika, the National Association of Journalists (ANP) said. They made a statementT.

He was shot by militants and died on arrival at the hospital, ANP added.

“The ANP will remain vigilant to ensure that this crime does not go unpunished,” the group said.

Among other issues, Madina had reported on the robbery of bus drivers, shopkeepers, hairdressers and even teachers by gangs who threatened them if they did not pay protection money.

Transport companies have gone on strike last year due to the killing of drivers.

In a separate attack on Monday in the northwestern city of Trujillo, a bomb exploded outside the door of the prosecutor’s office, injuring two people.

CCTV footage shows a man on a motorbike carrying a bag similar to that used by food delivery drivers, posing in front of the prosecutor.

The bag soon exploded.

Attorney General Delia Espinoza blamed the attack on organized crime.

Although extortion is a problem in Latin America, it has recently reached alarming levels in Peru – a phenomenon that is partly attributed to criminal gangs operating in Latin American countries such as Venezuela’s Tren de Aragua.

In response to the killing of the bus drivers, the government declared a state of emergency in the capital Lima last year and deployed the military.

In the first ten months of 2024, the police received more than 14,000 extortion complaints. But the problem is believed to be more widespread as many victims fail to report cases due to fear.

Millions of dollars in profits make the shakedown business more profitable than drug and human trafficking, intelligence sources told Agence France-Presse.

The slain journalist’s Medina lawyer, Wilmer Quispe, told reporters that his client had received death threats before Monday’s attack.

In the year In 2022, Medina arrived at work and found a bag full of trash and an envelope containing a .38-caliber bullet, according to news reports and A. Interview with the Committee for the Protection of Journalists with the reporter. Inside the envelope was a handwritten note that read, “Gaston Medina, you are dying,” Medina told CPJ.

The threat came after the morning news program Madina hosted and reported that huge expenditure had been incurred on the purchase of equipment for the government-run hospital. He told CPJ.. “I think the death threats are related to our report,” Medina said.

Peru ranks 125 out of 180 countries on Reporters Without Borders’ Press. Freedom index For 2024, a “spectacular collapse” in two years.