Suspects in beach area home and restaurant robberies arrested
by Eric Jackson
According
to reports
by Rob Brown and others, at least four arrests have been made of
suspected members of the gang that has staged about a dozen home and
restaurant invasion robberies and several more warrants are pending.
The police believe that one of those in detention is the gang's
leader.
The
arrests and renewed community clamor followed the second robbery of
the Rancho los Toros hotel and restaurant, in a somewhat isolated
part of San Carlos district's El Nance corregimiento. Several of the
victims of the second robbery were Boquete residents and they called
the hotline of that community's anti-crime group, Alto al Crimen. The
group put the private detective who works with them, MartÃn Ferrara,
on the case.
In
the first robbery one of the maleantes used a stolen iPhone to take
photographs, which were automatically uploaded online. That fact was
quickly disclosed to police, but for whatever reason they did not
succeed in following that lead. Ferrara did, leading to the arrest in
Panama City of the picture taker. That wannabe photographer maleante
reportedly turned over and gave information identifying other members
of the gang.
Brown,
a Canadian resident of Santa Clara, reactivated his Neighbours
Helping Neighbours (NHN) organization after the second robbery and
established a reward fund to which a number of real estate
developers, business owners and residents have contributed. In
coordination with the Boquete group and a neighborhood watch
organization in Gorgona NHN held a June 6 meeting at Rancho los
Toros. A number of police and government officials attended that
gathering, at which the arrests and outstanding warrants were
announced.
Presuming
that the right people were arrested and that the gang members still
at large will also be put out of action, this ends a violent rampage
that had many beach area residents living in fear. Most probably this
gang had nothing to do with the abduction and murder of Coronado
resident El Moynan, which appears to be related to the organized
criminal rackets. There are also other gangs with different methods
of operation that have staged many unarmed burglaries in the area and
remain active and at large. It is part of an overall national crime
wave that the government minimizes but public opinion polls indicate
follows only the cost of living among Panamanians' top concerns.
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