Buenos Aires: Three women tortured and killed on Instagram Live in suspected drug gang revenge plot

CONTENT WARNING: GRAPHIC DETAILS

The horrific torture and murder of two women and a teenage girl has been livestreamed on social media, with the motive likely an attempt by the leader of a drug gang to terrify his subordinates.

The bodies of Brenda del Castillo, 20, Morena Verdi, 20, and Lara Gutierrez, 15, were found dismembered in the backyard of a Florencio Varela property in southern Buenos Aires on September 19.

Javier Alonso, the province’s security minister, said the women had been familiar with members of a drug gang from their visits to Flores.

He said they were asked by an individual they knew and trusted to go to an event, but it was all a horrific set up.

When they arrived at the house, they were brutally tortured and murdered, according to Buenos Aires Herald.

“All that session of murder and torture was transmitted live on social media, and apparently 45 people who are on an Instagram account saw it,” Mr Alonso said.

He said the drug gang leader who orchestrated the attack did so to discipline the members of his crime group.

On the livestream, the gang leader warned viewers that “this is what happens to anyone who steals drugs from me”, according to Mr Alonso.

“It’s common in narco gangs that if someone steals their drugs, they can’t be left looking useless, so it triggers a fury of discipline so that nobody else even thinks of it,” he said.

It is unclear if the three victims had actually stolen drugs but Mr Alonso emphasised that, regardless, the killing were unacceptable.

One of the victim’s mothers told authorities that the two young women, and one underage girl, were sex workers.

“People have said awful things about these girls, who were young girls trying to find a path forward however they could,” Mr Alonso said.

“Some did so in one way, others in another, but by no means did they deserve everything that happened to them. Nobody deserves that.”

Georgina Orellano, a local sex workers’ union secretary general, has flagged the increased risk of violent crime against women in poverty.

“We have to take responsibility for the fact that this doesn’t just happen to any woman,” she said.

“Stop repeating that classist discourse that this could happen to any woman. It happens to poor women!”

After the victims’ bodies were publicly identified on Tuesday, a slew of arrests occurred within 24 hours.

Four men were arrested on Wednesday morning and another eight were arrested that night.

Police said the leader of the gang, known as Pequeno J or Julito, is a Peruvian national around 23-years-old.

He remains at large.

Police raided bunkers they believe are part of the network, and found money and approximately fifty portions of food prepared. They say this suggests a large group of people worked out of the premises.

Investigations remain ongoing as police continue to search for people who participated in the murders, as well as people behind the planning of the attack.

If you or someone you know needs help, contact 1800 RESPECT (1800 737 732), or Sexual Assault Counselling Australia on 1800 211 028.