BRIEFS. Crime

Fugitive may be targeting tourists

Among the six inmates who escaped from La Joyita last Oct. 20, one of them, Jonathan Oda, alias Machete, is considered the leader of a gang of robbers that targets tourists.

Oda, 23, who was arrested in September in Alcalde Díaz, had several outstanding charges for theft, police said. In fact, it appears that he was involved in 26 of the 67 robberies reported this year by the Tourist Police.

According to records of the Penitentiary System, Oda was detained in the public jail in Santiago, Veraguas, in February 2006, but managed to escape. In August 2007 he was recaptured at a roadblock in San Miguelito, but escaped after being taken to the duty room of a substation. Two months later, he was arrested after a brawl, but again escaped from a substation.

Police officials said that his latest escape has coincided with a spike in crimes against tourists.