CARACAS – Two police officers and a civilian were arrested as suspects in the murder of an Italian who turned up dead with two bullet wounds while his sailboat was anchored at Margarita Island, the Venezuelan Attorney General’s Office said.

Arrested were two members of the Nueva Esparta state police, Daniel Fernandez and Fidel Millan, and boat operator Pablo Gonzalez, the AG’s office said in a statement

The motive in the Aug. 27 murder of Emiliano Astore was apparently robbery.

While the two cops are suspected in the actual killing, Gonzalez apparently transported the pair on the high seas, the statement said.

Another state policeman, Wilfredo Salazar, was implicated in the “exploitation of objects” from the crime, given that at his residence authorities found “two portable computers, which were the property of the Italian tourist,” the communique said.

The communique also said that the arrests were made last Sunday.

Astore, 36, was found dead after being shot twice in his boat, which was docked at a pier on the Caribbean tourist island, where he had arrived the previous week. EFE