By Wendy Anders

Two police officers were detained Tuesday as part of an investigation into the escape of 10 suspected Mara Salvatrucha (MS13) gang members from a Salvadoran police delegation, said the director of the National Civil Police (PNC), Howard Cotto, to EFE.

Costa Rican police reported yesterday they have tightened security along the country’s northern border which could prove to be an escape route for the still at-large fugitives. Other Central American countries likewise are strengthening their border checks to prevent the gang members from slipping out of El Salvador.

Cotto explained that the two police officers are being held by the public prosecutor’s office “to establish whether there was negligence or intentionality in facilitating the escape.”

The 10 escaped from holding cells in San Francisco Gotera in the eastern Salvadoran department of Morazán which has seen an increase in gang activity in recent years.

According to local press reports, the inmates broke one of the walls of the police compound to escape. One of the last cases of an escape from a police cell was in August 2016 when 6 gang members escaped in the northern town of Mejicanos, according to EFE.

The escapees are José Francisco González Carvajal, 21, alias “Coche Bomba”; José Salvador Cárcamo Calato,18; Edwin Reynaldo Díaz Martínez, 28; Edwin Geovanny Vásquez Romero, 24, known as “Pato.” Also Alexander Vladimir Argueta Argueta, 23, alias “Tío Labio,” Cristian Eduardo Cardona Sánchez, 25, alias “Mutante,” Carlos Samuel Pineda Chicas, alias “Vendabal,” Mario Edenilson Argueta Romero, 21; Kerin Alberto Guevara Argueta, 25, known as “Perro” and José Rigoberto Argueta Reyes, 22, known as “Churuco,” and were held on charges of homicide and narcotrafficking, said Diario Extra, a Costa Rican Spanish language daily.

El Salvador’s gangs are the main force behind the high murder rates that have the Central American country ranked as one of the most violent in the world, said EFE.