MexConnect.com Forums: General: Traveling Mexico: Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF: Page 2

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Goyo

Jul 9, 2010, 12:13 PM

Post #26 of 36 (11263 views)

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Re: [norteño] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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I appreciate you posting all of those links. I just located this article from the Mazatlan hotel association: http://www.noroeste.com.mx/...ciones.php?id=587405

In the past I have been through what I believe are retenes falsos - fake checkpoints - on the TAP and Elite lines. They have been on the Tepic to Mazatlan cuota, and several times just south of Sonoyta at the town edge going north. In every instance the group has been somewhat rag-tag in appearance wearing a variety of clothes that look like uniforms. Never have I seen anything official such as a badge, official patches or lanyards with ID cards. But I have seen guns. On two occasions near Sonoyta there was a woman involved. I make my next two trips on these routes next week (south) and in mid August (north). I will be on the alert and try to observe as much as I can if stopped and boarded at one of these checkpoints.

I have also experienced very often the boarding of passengers from roadsides. This has happened frequently outside the Central in Tepic right next to Pollo Feliz which is across the street from the Central. It looks to me like it is a scam that benefits both parties - the passenger (cheap fare) and the driver (money in his pocket, stealing from his employer). All of the auditor checks along the routes are predictible and usually at or near toll booths. The bus drivers know how to secret their unofficial passengers without being caught. In this sense the drivers are as much to blame - on the whole as a group - as the thieves themselves. I watch a lot of other sketchy behavior by drivers all the time. One is taking women into the relief driver sleeping compartments. Another is taking on vendors and then receiving gratuities in the form of what the vendors are selling.

The author writing this article could be me... he describes exactly what I am talking about: http://ciudadtijuana.com/...-a-retenes-ilegales/

Here is a report from May about the same section of road near Sonoyta and a TAP bus: http://www.eluniversal.com.mx/notas/684399.html

And I've had this experience on the line, Nayarit ACN, where they avoid inspection and duty payments at the aduana below Sonoyta but only collected 100pesos per passenger. We flew right through the inspection point without any more than a brief stop where I assume the driver paid the agent: http://www.zetatijuana.com/...1710/Dobleplana.html

norteño

Jul 9, 2010, 1:22 PM

Post #27 of 36 (11251 views)

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Re: [Goyo] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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Another case, this from last Tuesday night. A passenger boarded an Ómnibus de México bus in Tepic bound for Mexico City and robbed passengers at gunpoint near Santa María del Oro, Nayarit. I believe this is the only case I have come across of a lone robber.

http://www.genteypoder.com/nota.php?id=7742

(This post was edited by norteño on Jul 9, 2010, 3:49 PM)

paleobrujo

Jul 10, 2010, 9:37 PM

Post #28 of 36 (11129 views)

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Re: [norteño] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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Well, given that Mexconnect probably brings in few Mexicans readers, who have suffered more than expats from all these incidents, the number of items coming up in this thread is remarkable and worrying. We are taking steps to make the US Embassy aware of all of this. They have expertise in security assessment - both the security people at the American Citizens Service. Stay tuned.

norteño

Jul 10, 2010, 10:07 PM

Post #29 of 36 (11123 views)

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Re: [paleobrujo] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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July 9, 2010. An ADO bus en route from Veracruz to Xalapa is held up near Chichicaxtle by three armed passengers who divert it onto a dirt road, fire a warning shot and are carried away by an accomplice after they rob the passengers. There are complaints of lack of assistance by the company and police and suspicions are expressed about the company guards.

http://www.reporterospoliciacos.com.mx/...p;catid=69:principal

Reprint of a May 27, 2010 article from La Jornada de Oriente in Puebla says that although inter-city bus holdups in that state are down 50% so far in 2010 from the same point in 2009 that the 25 that have occurred have been much more violent, with murders (five), rapes and shootings.

http://cokiemoster3.blogspot.com/...nte-asaltos-con.html

An article from Jan. 2010 from a paper in the state of Veracruz. The Cristóbal Colón bus line demands that the state prosecutor put a stop to holdups on the Las Choapas-Coatzacoalcos highway, which have made it dangerous to bus travelers and in which the state police seem to be implicated. It says that in 2009 at least 20 bus holdups (of various companies) along this route were formally reported to the state authorities but that no formal complaint was made of others.

http://www.alcalorpolitico.com/...ota.php?idnota=45929

(This post was edited by norteño on Jul 10, 2010, 10:11 PM)

norteño

Jul 12, 2010, 8:29 PM

Post #30 of 36 (10871 views)

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Re: [norteño] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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More recent inter-city bus holdups. It does seem that such robberies are much more likely to occur at night.

http://www.elmundodecordoba.com/...ncipal&Itemid=68

July 11, 2010. A bus of the AU line on a run from Veracruz to Orizaba is held up by two passengers who get off and escape.

http://www.elimparcial.com/...11072010/457901.aspx

July 11, 2010. A single subject gets on a TBC bus at the central station in Navojoa, Sonora and holds up passengers with a gun on a run to Álamos, Sonora. He gets off and escapes into the desert.

http://www.oem.com.mx/...l/notas/n1690483.htm

June 30, 2010. A Chihuahuense bus en route to Monterrey from Cd. Juárez is held up by two passengers armed with pistols.

http://www.oem.com.mx/...a/notas/n1671827.htm

June 14, 2010. A daylight robbery. A Cristóbal Colón line bus from Cuautla bound for Mexico City is held up by two passengers with handguns who severely beat one passenger. Passengers claim that the company lied to them about filing a police complaint, and that all passengers had supposedly been checked for weapons.

http://www.eluniversaledomex.mx/...zcalli/nota4748.html

July 6, 2010. Passengers describe how it has become a common MO for robbers to board buses in the State of Mexico dressed as clowns (street entertainers), and rob them at gunpoint. There is also a report that two well-dressed couples are getting on buses on the Mexico City-Querétaro route, robbing passengers at gunpoint and getting off at the Tequex stop into a black Jetta.

http://www.notiver.com.mx/...p/sucesos/86133.html

June 4, 2010. An ADO bus is on a run from Chilcontopec, Veracruz to Xalapa when two subjects appear out of the brush along the road, shoot out the windshield, take the bus over and divert it onto a dirt road and rob passengers and driver.

http://www.camaraenlinea.com/...=18990&Itemid=19

June 14, 2010. A Cristóbal Colón bus is en route at 1:30 am from Tuxtla Gutiérrez to the city of Veracruz when two hooded subjects block the road and take over the bus at gunpoint and divert it onto a dirt road where they rob the passengers, who with the driver have to walk until they find a house where they can report the crime.

http://www.proceso.com.mx/...talleExclusiva/78641

A general report in Proceso from April 21, 2010 on the highway robbery situation in the part of Jalisco between Zapopan and the state of Zacatecas, and particularly the municipality of Colotlán.

It says that although authorities are claiming some success in capturing and prosecuting outlaws that residents are fleeing the area and living in constant fear of robbery or kidnapping, and that there are constant reports of holdups of trucks, cars and buses in the direction of the state of Zacatecas. Kidnappings for ransom are occurring with total impunity on the highway from Guadalajara to Colotlán and holdups of buses had been reported within the last few weeks. Cars are being held up on the highways and a group of employees of the Department of Health had been held up on the highway by bandits who made off with their four vehicles and valuables. Lookouts from the bandit gangs keep tabs on every outsider who enters the area.

Some priests had been driven out of the area by organized crime and local reporters state that they have to remain silent about the crimes, and the bandits travel in convoys that outnumber and intimidate the police.

mexliving

Jul 12, 2010, 10:18 PM

Post #31 of 36 (10850 views)

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Re: [norteño] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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i have to say these crimes are a result of the economy here in mexico....... just like in the usa... bank hold ups went up 60%

thanks to all for posting the websites.... now i have real mexican news to read.

norteño

Jul 12, 2010, 10:59 PM

Post #32 of 36 (10847 views)

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Re: [mexliving] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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"bank hold ups went up 60%"

Not according to the FBI. In 2009 there were 12% fewer bank robberies than in 2008. There were very slightly fewer in 2007 than in 2009 but every other year back through 2003 at least there were more than in 2008.

mensamia

Jul 13, 2010, 4:22 PM

Post #33 of 36 (10753 views)

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Re: [norteño] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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thanks norteno,

paleobrujo

Jul 13, 2010, 5:07 PM

Post #34 of 36 (10729 views)

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Re: [mensamia] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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GOOD NEWS FOR ONCE. This is from a visitor from Europe who arrived in Mexico yesterday, taking the Primera Plus bus from MEX to Querétaro.

"He needed ID to buy a ticket, and they actually checked his face against his ID.
He had to check virtually all of his luggage, except for a small bag to bring on board.
He had to show ID again with the girl checking tickets, and she actually looked at his face.
At the same time a person with a video camera took closeups of his ID and his face, and his ID again. Very thorough.
He was frisked, as were all women.
They passed a metal detector, as well.
Once on the bus, the video person took another video of everyone in their seats.
Armed police came on board and checked all the overhead bins and the bathrooms.

As my friend said, he does not know if the other buses got this treatment or just his; and of course, he does not know what security is like at the Norte station."

Hopefully, at least Primera Plus is realizing that its business model needs to include serious security.

gpkgto

Jul 14, 2010, 8:05 AM

Post #35 of 36 (10661 views)

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Re: [paleobrujo] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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There is generally more security getting on a bus in DF, but the precautions come and go. The last time I took a DF bus (about a year ago) there was virtually no security check, but a few years ago it was as you described (video and all). The problem is the pick-up at the other station on the edge of DF (I think the place is mentioned in the original post)--I have a suspicion that the security there is less thorough.

Casa

Jul 14, 2010, 3:38 PM

Post #36 of 36 (10610 views)

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Re: [paleobrujo] Attacks on Primera Plus Airport Bus and ETN bus from DF

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I took ETN from Mexico city (Poniente) to Guadalajara about 3 weeks ago a and they sis not ask for ID at all. (I just walked up to the counter at 1430 for the 1500 bus.) All they did was ask for a name. Also no metal detectors, cameras, searches, or anything like that.

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