Alleged suspects arrested for threatening Di Maria's family

Two of those allegedly involved in the recent threats against the family of Argentine footballer Angel di Maria in the town of Funes, Santa Fe province, were arrested on Wednesday, judicial sources announced.

"The perpetrators have been arrested. The two people who were in the car have been arrested in what was a joint operation with the federal prosecutor's office with the participation of the federal police and the intelligence service," prosecutor Pablo Socca told reporters.

The agents arrested two people in a temporary rental flat who were in the car from which the threat to the footballer's family was made in the early hours of Monday morning at the gates of the residential complex, he said. During the operation, a firearm was seized.

"We have evidence that has to do with the cameras, the car, the path that was traced or the ownership of the vehicle," Socca said. In addition, the Prosecutor's Office reported that the vehicle had already been mentioned in investigations being carried out by the federal justice system, which led to determining which individuals or gang were behind the threats.

The prosecutor said that it remains to be investigated the motivation and if this fact is related to other intimidations that have occurred in the province in recent weeks towards taxi drivers and bus drivers. Also the governor of the province of Santa Fe Maximiliano Pullaro, who suffered similar warnings, echoed the arrest on his Instagram profile, publishing the names of those involved in the incident.

"Pablo Acotto, who was being investigated for drug trafficking, confessed, in wiretaps, to being the perpetrator, and Sara Belen Gutierrez and Gabriel Ismael Pastore were arrested by the PFA and the Santa Fe Police through PDI when they were thinking of escaping from their home," he commented in the publication where a pixelated image of one of the detainees is shown.

The incident occurred in a housing estate near Di Maria's native Rosario on Monday when a vehicle threw a threatening message at the door of the home where the Benfica player's relatives were staying. The winger was in training with the Argentina national team for two friendlies in the United States ahead of the Copa America.