For about 10 hours, armed men intercepted motorists on the federal highway that connects the capital of Chiapas with the center of the country, and they were taken to a ranch located in the area, where they stole their cars, cell phones, and forced them to make bank transfers.
According to the report of some of the affected people, the group of hooded men with high-caliber weapons, chose those who were aboard 4×4 trucks or pick-ups that circulated in Puente Chiapas.
“We were there around 10 in the morning on Monday (September 9) and they let us out on the highway until night.
“They set up a checkpoint, stopped cars and chose the trucks. I saw because some were in front of me. They stopped us, and then they took us to a ranch, there were men, women, girls and boys and older people. They didn’t let us look up, they put hoods on some of them,” said one of the complainants.
He explained that at the ranch where they were taken there were between 30 and 40 people who were getting out of the vehicles and trucks that they were taking.
“They were constantly demanding that we look at the ground, they were interrogating us, checking our belongings, and those of us who had a card were forced to make bank transfers.”
The complainant said that around 10 pm, when they were released, they walked several kilometers until some passersby asked them what was happening, and they called the police.
He explained that members of the National Guard and others who were in vehicles that said “Secretariat of the Interior” came to pick up the affected people.
Regarding these events, the Chiapas Prosecutor’s Office issued a statement stating that the massive theft of cars took place in the municipality of Ocozocoautla de Espinosa, on the road that leads to the town of Malpaso.
“The victims filed the corresponding complaint with this social representation, indicating that when traveling along the Ocozocoautla de Espinosa – Mal Paso highway, they were intercepted by a group of people, who stole their vehicles.”
He added that the case was transferred to the Prosecutor’s Office for Combating Vehicle Theft, the institution that began the investigations.
The spokesman for the Prosecutor’s Office, Ezequiel Gómez García, explained that an investigation was not initiated for the crime of kidnapping, since the people were only detained, “kidnapping is when they ask for a ransom to release it, that is how the crime of kidnapping is formulated.”
On this communication route, the theft of vehicles by people who, according to the complaints, could be part of organized crime groups has increased.
The type of vehicles they steal are trucks, some of which, on later dates, have appeared in places where there are clashes between criminal groups.
According to the Mexican Association of Insurance Institutions (AMIS), 367 insured vehicles have been stolen in Chiapas so far this year, 44% of which are pick-up trucks and heavy vehicles.
Source: aristeguinoticias
