Police surround fugitive chopper attack pilot

pulse

January 15, 2018 3:57 PM

Oscar Perez, a rogue helicopter pilot who vanished last year after dropping grenades on Venezuelas Supreme Court, said Monday he and his companions were surrounded and pinned down by police marksmen.

"They are firing at us with grenade launchers. We said we are going to surrender but they do not want to let us surrender. They want to kill us," a bloodied Perez said in one of several dramatic videos posted online.

Perez, a former elite police officer, is seen with other men in one of the videos, some of them armed.

He said they were being besieged by snipers at a location on the outskirts of Caracas.

Vice president of the ruling Socialist party, Diosdado Cabello, said on Twitter the Police Special Action Force (FAES) had launched an operation to arrest Perez.

He said the security forces had "responded with fire" when two officers were wounded in the operation.

On June 27, at the height of street protests against President Nicolas Maduro, Perez and unidentified accomplices flew over Caracas in a police helicopter and dropped four grenades on the Supreme Court before opening fire on the interior ministry. There were no casualties.

Venezuelan authorities issued an arrest warrant through Interpol after accusing him of a "terrorist attack."

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