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A knock on the bus door was the first warning. Carlos *, a bus driver, was paralyzed and unable to understand what two men were saying to him from the road, standing next to the door of his car.
The second blow brought him back to reality. He managed to see a gun in the hand of one of them, while the other made signals for him to open the door. Carlos thought about accelerating, but the cars braking in front and behind gave him no choice.
“The ‘man’ hit the door again and showed me the gun, pointed it at me and made signs for me to open it. Then another arrived, also armed, and what else was he going to do? I had to open it ”, said the driver.
Indeed, none had an escape. The colonel Luis Fernando Arcos Álvarez, Operational Commander of the Antioquia Police, reported that a group of between four and six armed men took advantage of the fact that the Medellín – Bogotá highway was with restricted passage, and stopped the cars that passed to assault occupants on Saturday at 3:30 a.m.
“They carried traumatic weapons (air pistols that pretend to be real firearms) and bladed weapons. The vehicles had to stop and wait for their turn to pass the landslide, ”the colonel explained.
Carlos says that between 28 and 30 vehicles were robbed, while the Police maintain that there were 10 vehicles and two motorcycles.
The criminals, both sources agree, took jewelry, money and cell phones and fled through the wooded areas that surround the road.
A recurring problem
In March of this year, a similar robbery occurred on the same road, in the area known as Belén. At that time, in one of the vehicles was a policeman dressed in civilian clothes who managed to wound one of the assailants with his weapon, who was later arrested.
The travelers on Saturday were not so lucky. “We didn’t see any police on the road and they took a long time to arrive after we called. To make matters worse, we had to fight with the employees of the Sanctuary tollbooth, who did not believe that they had robbed us and did not want to let us pass. We had no money left, not even for that! Added Carlos.
Colonel Arcos assured that after hearing the victims’ complaint, the Antioquia Police deployed an intelligence and judicial police team to identify those responsible and “leave them at the disposal of the competent authorities.” As of press time, no capture related to the case had been documented.
A permanent surveillance team was appointed in the area, made up of the Highway Police, although the authorities did not confirm how many men will make up this device.
Meanwhile, Invías keeps operators in the area to reopen the double lane crossing in the shortest possible time. Due to the rains and the instability of the slope, the works are only carried out during the day, confirmed the entity.
* Protected identity, at the request of the source
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