Merchants in La Paz are the target of a gang that kidnaps and assaults them. One of the cases that has been recorded so far in October occurred at 8 a.m. on Thursday, October 3, when the owner of a hamburger business, identified as Nelva “N,” was approached by two armed men when she arrived at the Cola de Ballena plaza to shop at the Sam’s Club store. This occurred in the parking area located at Agustín Olachea and the Pino Pallas bridge.
The criminals took her out of the wine-colored KIA Sorento, put her in the back of the unit and took her to the Chametla district a little more than 2.5 kilometers away, while a gray car, without license plates and tinted windows followed them. The victim said that the kidnapping lasted approximately 40 minutes.
Luis Navarro, a businessman who was assaulted and the truck that was stolen from him on October 4 in the Centro neighborhood in La Paz
The victim stated that his attackers came to collect his money, taking 10 thousand pesos from him, which was what he was going to use to buy the supplies for the business. After robbing him of his resources, the subjects got out of the truck and left it on the side of the road. As best she could, Nelva drove to the Liverpool store, where she suffered a nervous breakdown, for which she was treated by police and paramedics.
Another incident took place on Friday, October 4, at Héroes de Independencia and 5 de mayo in the Centro neighborhood. After 9:30 at night, the businessman Luis Navarro was being stalked by three assailants, who were waiting for him to close the store.
In a recording given to ZETA, a young man with a thin beard and mustache, wearing a cap, a bag and a polo shirt, can be seen walking in the video, as if he were hanging around the businessman’s fruit shop. He makes signs to two young men who approach from Independencia Avenue, which goes down to the boardwalk, and they continue along Héroes de Independencia; and when they reach the corner, one of them can be seen holding an object (shaped like a machete or baseball bat).
According to the victim, he had closed the store when he returned to disconnect an electronic device; at that moment a man approached him, took a gun from his bag and hit him in the back of the neck, causing a head wound. After being beaten, the criminals held him prisoner in his business, threatened him and were able to take cash from him, consisting of 40 thousand pesos, and a Silverado truck, which was the one they fled the store in.
Despite the images available to the security forces, they have not been able to find those responsible. After the incident, the merchant was taken to the Salvatierra hospital, where he received several stitches for the blow to the head.
Strong operation after express kidnapping and assault of merchant on October 3 at 8 in the morning in Plaza Cola de Ballena
Merchants dedicated to the sale of food, flower shops and groceries told ZETA that they fear that it is a way to extort, charge a fee and kidnap the store managers, and that the authorities are unable to arrest those responsible.
And at least in the assault on the fruit shop, the three criminals were recorded; two of them had their faces exposed and were in a stolen truck with all the characteristics. However, despite all the information, those responsible have not been found.
“All my fellow collaborators have instructions; there are not many of us, but the five of us who work, we know that if something like this happens, not a single one will put up resistance. “They should take all the cash, which is not much, and is worth less than anyone’s life, I have told them,” said Jorge Luis, owner of a flower shop in the central area of La Paz.
He said that what happened to his neighbor is a wake-up call, so he should look for security options, because even with cameras they beat him and assaulted him, and hiring security personnel is too expensive to sustain. Perhaps, he said, he will choose to close earlier and limit access to the store.
They fear that these are ways to force them to close, extort or simply want to take their money; this is how Ramón, who sells food on 5 de Mayo, two blocks from his partner’s fruit shop, expressed himself.
“Yes, I found out, unfortunate. We fear that this is a form of extortion, that they want to somehow get money from us who are dedicated to working, that these people want to come with their hand outstretched just to take the fruit of our work without restraint. “Really, how far have we come? The fact that La Paz is having these incidents worries us a lot, how such a small city is involved, and this area that we thought was safe since the Football Stadium was reopened,” said Ramón.
The owner of a grocery store located a block and a half from the same store that was robbed, said that at night the area is very dark and strangers constantly pass by, mostly on their way to a rehabilitation center, so he decided to close his business early.
“They have been trying to extort us for days. A guy named Alejandro, who calls himself ‘the Accountant,’ called us, he keeps bothering us, saying that we owe him money and mentions a person we don’t know; he has been calling us more than 20 times a day, saying that he won’t stop bothering us until we pay and we don’t have a debt with anyone. So there are many ways they are using, bothering us, so that we pay them for our peace of mind; now I see and read that they have already taken money from other businesses… I mean, we are really in a bad way and I don’t see any clear action against them,” said one of the grocery store managers, who started with this situation after promoting the business through Google.
THEY ARE LOOKING FOR A GANG OF ROBBERS
The recent attacks on small businesses in La Paz are affecting the entire population. That is why the State Public Security Board made these robbers a priority target, said the Secretary General of Government, José Saúl González Núñez, detailing that the first thing is to identify the gang that is operating these activities and achieve their arrest through intelligence actions.
“We are reviewing the issue of who is doing it, an intelligence issue to be able to attack it, and well, quickly eradicate this issue of robberies to businesses,” confirmed Saúl González.
For his part, the governor of the State, Víctor Manuel Castro Cosío, stated that he does not want there to be links between criminals and institutions, this so that there is no ungovernability, impunity and protection for those who commit a crime, but that the institutions are there to punish criminals.
In the first eight months of 2024, 345 robberies were committed to businesses in Baja California Sur; On average, 43 crimes were committed against businesses per month and 1.4 robberies per day, according to figures presented by the Executive Secretariat of the National Public Security System.
“I do not want there to be links, neither the State Police, nor the Governor, nor the Secretary of Security, no one who has links with the bad guys, all the police forces, so as not to mention one, let it be clear: it is to disassociate the levels of government from relations with them, from deals, from agreements, which occurs; yes, but let it be clear that this is reprehensible, that the Government has nothing to do with individual, personal activities of any official,” said the governor.
The Secretary General indicated that it will be vital to maintain inter-institutional coordination for the capture of these assailants, and that they also deprived a merchant of her freedom to rob her of cash, as he recognized that this cannot be happening in the matrix of security in Baja California Sur.
He said that they will keep the issue current in the Security Table, in the same way that the case of the State Police is being handled, to gradually address the needs in terms of security.
“The meetings of the Board will continue with the Government of President Claudia, and we are about to meet with the new mayors. Coordination in the Security Board is important, and this coordination continues, and that will lead us to have good results in what is coming in these months. There are also details that need to be adjusted, but well, it is the most important issue of coordination and intelligence that is being done,” said González Núñez. Víctor Castro, Public Security, Police, BCS, La Paz, Milena Quiroga, Saúl González.
Source: zetatijuana
