The Prosecutor's Unit Specialized in Kidnappings for Extortion (Ufese), launched in 2016 to investigate this type of crimes, will now specialize in investigations of organized crime, given the decrease in cases registered in recent months, judicial sources reported this Monday. . This was ordered by the acting Attorney General of the Nation Eduardo Casal, who expanded the powers of the now defunct Ufese, which changed its name to that office, which will now be called the Specialized Prosecutor's Unit for Organized Crime (Ufeco). In this way, the new Ufeco will be headed by prosecutor Santiago Marquevich and will act in the field of federal justice in investigations of cases associated with smuggling, illegal trafficking of goods, terrorism, falsification of documents, adulteration and circulation of counterfeit currency, sale illegal weapons, trademark fraud, immigration crimes and illicit association. The informants also assured that the Ufeco may "intervene exclusively in those cases referring to crimes under federal jurisdiction - that show manifestations of organized crime and that are not covered by the specialized prosecutors' offices." Despite this, a judicial source explained to Télam that the new specialized prosecutor's office will also be able to collaborate in cases of drug trafficking, human trafficking, money laundering and environmental pollution, although only under the express request of a federal prosecutor. In this regard, Attorney Casal specified that the objective of Ufeco will be to "assist the prosecutors and heads of the attorney general's offices, who require it, in order to improve the response capacity and raise the levels of efficiency of the Ministry." Fiscal Public facing the phenomenon of organized capacity". Furthermore, Casal justified the expansion of the crimes to be investigated by the specialized prosecutor's office since "the people who make up the unit's work team have vast experience and specialization in the investigation of this complex crime, its related and links with organized crime, while they are integrated into a dynamic of group functioning that should not be wasted." Regarding this, the spokespersons of the Public Prosecutor's Office of the Nation highlighted that since 2020 there has been "a gradual increase in this criminal typology linked to organized crime", which generated greater interaction of the Ufese with other prosecutor's offices, units and specialized directorates of the Public Prosecutor's Office.