BRIEFS. crime

$7,000 robbed in string of bus hijackings

la prensa

easy riders: Groups of thieves posing as passengers have targeted buses in the capital, especially those on the North Corridor. 1132017

Some $7,000 has been stolen in six bus robberies in the capital so far this month, according to police reports. Half of those robberies took place on the North Corridor, and investigators are looking into the possibility that the cases were related, according to a judicial source.

The latest incident occurred on Wednesday, when criminals posing as passengers on a bus on the Santa Librada-Corridor route threatened the driver and fellow riders with knives and firearms if they didn’t hand over their belongings.

Investigators reported that the only known detail at present is that the thieves responsible for the December 9 assault on a bus carrying 25 Puerto Rican tourists in Chilibre belong to a gang called "La Montaña.”

The recent string of bus hijackings began on December 4 with two robberies reported, the first, a bus in transit between Torrijos-Carter and the North Corridor, at 8:30 p.m. Two hours later, a group of thieves waved down a bus en route to Rio Abajo along Vía España.

In many of the cases, the robberies took place after the bus passed the toll booth near Calle Martín Sosa on the North Corridor, where the thieves hid in bushes on the shoulder.