Dead after robbing 6 tourists

Mr_DR · Nov 30, 2004

Well, I don't know if these two guys really deserved to die but this should send a clear message to these delinquents that crimes will not be tolerated especially against tourists. But will they ever learn.

The media made a mistake stating that it was a bus full of tourists when it was only a van coming from Punta Rusia with 6 tourists.

12:48 PM
Matan implicados en un atraco a turistas en PP

LA VEGA.- Dos delincuentes acusados por el asalto a unos turistas en Punta Rusia, Puerto Plata, fueron muertos la madrugada de este martes en un supuesto intercambio de disparos con una patrulla de la Polic?a en el paraje Los Camarones, de la secci?n Bayacanes.
-Ver Art?culo completo >>

http://www.elnacional.com.do/app/frontpage.aspx

Ken · Nov 30, 2004

Thanks for the update, Mr. Mike. Good to know that those 2 won't be influencing others to do like wise with their boasts about a successful highway robbery of tourists.

liam1 · Nov 30, 2004

how can we be sure those 2 were the guys that robbed the tourists? maybe the cops set the whole thing up to make it look like they took care of the 2 criminals and there is no reason to panic.

D.D. · Nov 30, 2004

liam1 said:
how can we be sure those 2 were the guys that robbed the tourists? maybe the cops set the whole thing up to make it look like they took care of the 2 criminals and there is no reason to panic.

Liam, You took the words out of my mouth

Ogre of the Caribbean · Nov 30, 2004

I suppose if the police can actually produce the stolen jewelry, travellers checks,cameras,etc, they will have proved the case.

Unless some of the police were somehow involved in the robbery to begin with and just found a couple of scape goats.

Toronto2inDR · Nov 30, 2004

IF...those are the guys and IF...They traded fire with the cops then better dead because if they are capable of all that then it?s a small step to killing tourists and that would be VERY BAD NEWS!

Let also not forget that these types victimize Dominicans as well as tourists...just that we don?t hear about that very often.

gerd · Nov 30, 2004

liam1 said:
how can we be sure those 2 were the guys that robbed the tourists? maybe the cops set the whole thing up to make it look like they took care of the 2 criminals and there is no reason to panic.

...like they always do.... :bandit:

badpiece33 · Nov 30, 2004

liam1 said:
how can we be sure those 2 were the guys that robbed the tourists? maybe the cops set the whole thing up to make it look like they took care of the 2 criminals and there is no reason to panic.

Is it always fashionable to bash the police when they do a tough and dangerous job and always second guess them giving the scum criminals the benefit of the doubt. Why is it that you people always bash the police without a single piece of evidence of evidence against the police?

Mr_DR · Nov 30, 2004

liam1 said:
how can we be sure those 2 were the guys that robbed the tourists? maybe the cops set the whole thing up to make it look like they took care of the 2 criminals and there is no reason to panic.

The cops had no reasons to set this up.

The tips came from people in the neighborhood where these guys kept their stolen goods. These 2 were been wanted for a while in connections to many other crimes committed all throughout the country. The police confiscated a 12mm Shotgun, a Pistol, a 357 cal. Revolver and two Motorcycles without any documents.
They also arrested a lady that lives next to the area where the shots exchange took place.

Porfio_Rubirosa · Dec 1, 2004

Right and Wrong

First, the Policia Nacional have earned this intense suspicion and distrust.

Second, my experience is that the announced capture or killing of notorious violent criminals in the DR is almost always legitimate. As was noted, the neighbors always getcha.

Finally, though the bandits may not have killed anyone, their brazen act put in jeopardy the country's number one industry: Tourism. It puts bread on the table.

To quote from the Chicago police dispatcher in "The Blues Brothers" movie: "Officers are remined that the use of unnecessary force in the apprehension and arrest of the Blues Brothers .............. has been approved."

BushBaby · Dec 1, 2004

badpiece33 said:
Is it always fashionable to bash the police when they do a tough and dangerous job and always second guess them giving the scum criminals the benefit of the doubt. Why is it that you people always bash the police without a single piece of evidence of evidence against the police?

Porfio is right about the reputation of the local police Badpiece BUT, my concern is more that the information might well be being manipulated by the Minister of Tourism to play the whole episode down. I have NOTHING to back this up but feel it is in the interests of tourism to SAY that the bandits did not have uzis, to SAY that the bus was a van & that the 40 were just 6. Now they are (possibly) telling the police to state to the press that they have shot & killed the suspected robbers!! Dead men can not argue their innocence of THIS crime (even though I accept that they might have commited OTHER robberies)!!

Sorry folks - to me it all seems so starnge that THIS has had a "SUCCESSFUL" conclusion when we know so many go unsolved. We won't be able to get the REAL story from the original reporter because he will have been silenced by the Minister of Tourism et al in Government!! Now all tourist will feel content that the DR will be a lot safer bcause the Government & police of the DR are acting so decisively against robberies against tourists!! ~ Grahame

liam1 · Dec 1, 2004

BushBaby said:
...my concern is more that the information might well be being manipulated by the Minister of Tourism to play the whole episode down. I have NOTHING to back this up but feel it is in the interests of tourism to SAY that the bandits did not have uzis, to SAY that the bus was a van & that the 40 were just 6. Now they are (possibly) telling the police to state to the press that they have shot & killed the suspected robbers!! Dead men can not argue their innocence of THIS crime...

that was the point i was trying to make! i have no reason to bash the cops.

ps. i come from a corrupted country. whenever there was a crime that needed to be solved for political reasons, more often than not it was solved with a police "shootout" (even though no policeman was ever hurt, but their car is always riddled with bullets) and the dead guy(s) always had a criminal record that fit the crime. makes you wonder, if he was peacefully arrested 4 times before, what made him shoot at the cops this time? secret police does wonders.

Dolores1 · Dec 1, 2004

I think Hillbilly can eventually find out the truth because he knows Gunther, the operator of the tours who broke the news to the reporter in the first place. Probably Hillbilly will see him in weeks to come and can get him to tell really what happened as there have been conflicting reports.

Hillbilly · Dec 1, 2004

The first thing I saw when I read the story was

Where are the UZIs??

There is no way for a person to mistake a shotgun for an Uzi. I do not think that Prieto Tours would make a mistake as to the number. I do not, in this case, believe that reporters from La Informaci?n, would make a mistake as to the number of tourists.

Has anyone thought to call Prieto Tours on this? One of you folks there in POP?

I would be very nice to know that the case was solved, however, with questions as pertinent as these, I am thinking that perhaps there are too many loose ends..

HB

?

Ken · Dec 1, 2004

liam1 said:
how can we be sure those 2 were the guys that robbed the tourists? maybe the cops set the whole thing up to make it look like they took care of the 2 criminals and there is no reason to panic.

I believe the police got the right people. In a matter like this, where there would be intense pressure on the police, they will go all out to find the guilty parties. Helping them is the fact that:

1. There is always a Dominican who will spill the beans, so to speak. Crooks here, like those in other countries, love to brag about what they are going to do or what they have done. And there is always somebody who will give this info to the police. Most crimes in the US, for example, are not solved by brilliant police work but because of tips.

2. If the Dominican police get any clue at all as to who might have been involved, they round up all the friends and family, even neighbors, of the suspect and hold them in jail until somebody gives them information.

Regarding the size of the vehicle, I don't know whether it was big or small, but I do know the next day the taxi drivers in Sosua were talking about a minibus having been robbed on the highway.

Hillbilly · Dec 1, 2004

As things would have it

I just got back from my morning class and the father of one of my students happens to work for Prieto Tours, the owners of the bus.van/whatever that was robbed.

According to her, the tour guide of the 40 passenger vehicle (call it what you may) said that there were just two individuals, armed with sub machine guns, extremely polite, that told everybody to sit still, that it was a robbery, and they were not going to hurt anyone. They were dressed for the bush, and wore
tactical boots, the kind issued to the military (black leather, forest green woven tops, thick soles). As they left the bus they said: "Gracias!" and took off into the bush.

The tour guide said that they were fairly well spoken people. The newspaper reports do not mention army boots or the ski-type (SWAT) masks

Sort of makes you think of possible scenarios.

1) Kill these anti-social types and take the heat off
2) There was another, smaller, attack that went unreported in the press
3) It was normal SOP for the anti-robbery police.
4) The investigating authorities either don't have a clue or they know who did this and will not or cannot say it.

However, the gullible public might believe that this is the end of the story.

The ever dubious HB

????

MrMike · Dec 1, 2004

I think it's pretty obvious to anyone who knows how things work here that the police and military are behind the latest crime wave - and not just indirectly as in taking bribes, but commiting the robberies themselves.

Don't you have to be government to have an Uzi?

Conchman · Dec 1, 2004

One thing is for sure that the press constantly gets things wrong, almost every article you read contains numbers and descriptions that are completely false. I know this from experience and its not a Dominican thing, its everywhere but especially in smaller countries.

Escott · Dec 1, 2004

Conchman said:
One thing is for sure that the press constantly gets things wrong, almost every article you read contains numbers and descriptions that are completely false. I know this from experience and its not a Dominican thing, its everywhere but especially in smaller countries.

Truth doesn't sell papers nor get headlines. Same thing goes on in the US and the media is a big joke.

Scott

NALs · Dec 5, 2004

Mr_DR said:
Well, I don't know if these two guys really deserved to die but this should send a clear message to these delinquents that crimes will not be tolerated especially against tourists. But will they ever learn.

The media made a mistake stating that it was a bus full of tourists when it was only a van coming from Punta Rusia with 6 tourists.

12:48 PM
Matan implicados en un atraco a turistas en PP

LA VEGA.- Dos delincuentes acusados por el asalto a unos turistas en Punta Rusia, Puerto Plata, fueron muertos la madrugada de este martes en un supuesto intercambio de disparos con una patrulla de la Polic?a en el paraje Los Camarones, de la secci?n Bayacanes.
-Ver Art?culo completo >>

http://www.elnacional.com.do/app/frontpage.aspx

1. I'm glad this happened. The only problem is that it was not a court decision, it was a battle between cops and robbers. The robbers resisted arrest and began shooting, police had no choice but to kill those bastards.

2. Dominican courts should issue more death penalties and make it very public! If such action kills the hopes of a few would be criminals, that is better than killing the hopes of those who are not criminals by letting the real criminals on the easy.

3. The tourist who were robbed, should be told what happened to their robbers. That way, they will add that part when they tell their family and friends back in Britain of their ordeal in the DR.

Dead after robbing 6 tourists

Silver

Platinum

Bronze

New member

Bronze

New member

Member

Silver

Silver

Bronze

Silver

Bronze

DR1

Moderator

Platinum

Moderator

Silver

Silver

Gold

Economist by Profession