Overview
- INPE officers in Arequipa detained teacher Rubén Víctor Reynoso Gonzales after finding 55 cellphone SIM chips hidden inside a wristwatch during a security check.
- Following the Arequipa intervention, the INPE notified the Ministerio Público and the National Police, who documented the case, seized the items and opened an investigation.
- An intelligence-led search at the Challapalca prison uncovered routers, Wi‑Fi repeaters, cables and two phones concealed behind a toilet wall in cell 11 of Pavilion 1, with maintenance staff assisting in the discovery.
- INPE president Iván Paredes Yataco said inmates linked to the Challapalca cache will be transferred to the Cochamarca facility as a disciplinary and security measure.
- Under Supreme Decree No. 127-2025-PCM, authorities are conducting permanent joint operations with INPE, PNP and the Armed Forces, rotating staff, applying polygraph reliability tests and intensifying inspections of signal blockers with the MTC to curb prison-originated extortion, which officials estimate accounts for a large share of such crimes.