Express kidnapping, a crime that is shown on social networks, but not everyone who suffers it reports it

“It is scary to go out, but sometimes it is necessary. You have to take risks ”. With these phrases, Betsy, 25, tries to portray her perception of the degree of citizen insecurity in Guayaquil.

She waits outside the San Marino shopping center for a taxi that she ordered through the InDriver platform, on Thursday, December 16, 2021. While checking the location of that transport, she comments that she shares the data of the race with family members, before boarding the unit, as a preventive measure for cases of express kidnappings that have been viralized on social networks.

“We share the location in real time so they know where we are going,” says the woman who was accompanied by her young son and sister. They were destined for the Popular Bastion.

During the first weeks of December, the busiest month of the year, social media users shared their experiences after being victims of gangs that operate under the modality of express kidnapping.

On Tuesday, December 7, Elvira, whose identity we protect, took a taxi with the help of the BOLT application. On the way, three guys boarded the vehicle that was transporting her and with threats took personal belongings and money.

“The thieves told me: ‘Flaca, don’t go out. The street is hard. Stay at home, ‘”says the woman, who regrets that certain taxi service applications do not guarantee the safety of travelers.

“By not having control over the security of their services, I consider that they are providing the user with a service that is not of quality and the Constitution recognizes and guarantees that people have the right to access quality services (art. 66, numeral 25 ), ”Says the victim, who adds that she did file the complaint. The crime is recorded in the records of the Prosecutor’s Office as theft.

According to Elvira, after 9:00 p.m. she took a taxi in central Urdesa and the criminals intercepted her on the street between a linear park and the Alberto Spencer Model stadium.

“They detained me for between 20 and 30 minutes, and left me in the Atarazana citadel. Apparently they had as an accomplice another driver who was transporting them in a yellow taxi, because when I boarded the car, a yellow taxi that was behind was whistling insistently for me to get on, supposedly because I could not pass, “says the woman, who was told His items, valued at about $ 500, were stolen. He had no money in his accounts.

An invisible record

Like Elvira, Néstor, a family man who lives in the north of Guayaquil, was kidnapped by several subjects after taking a yellow taxi on 9 de Octubre avenue at 8:00 p.m. on the previous December 8.

“The complaint was not filed because if the law cannot handle more complex things, it cannot handle simpler things. More than out of fear, because of inefficiency of justice ”, his daughter questions.

Two individuals arrested who would have committed assaults in La Puntilla, Samborondón

Police Colonel Henry Herrera, Chief of Operations for Zone 8 (Guayaquil, Durán and Samborondón), indicates that the lack of a complaint creates an invisible record of the crime, thus hindering the security and justice institutions execute coordinated actions.

“We are presenting complaints in the wrong places, on social networks, when they should be done at the Prosecutor’s Office. This does not help us to give a formal orientation to crime prevention and reduction actions. With the complaints we know the way of operating of the organizations that are dedicated to this ”, indicates the police officer.

The uniformed man maintains that the records of this type of crime in Guayaquil are scarce so far this month, and that it portrays an unreliable reality of what happens in the streets. According to the statistics managed by the Police, from January to November of this year, in Guayaquil there have been 36 emergencies of this type, versus the 79 cases that occurred in the same period of the previous year.

Prosecutor Danny Vizueta, from the Flagrancy Unit, located in the Community Surveillance Unit of the Model Barracks, also shows the problems that exist due to the lack of complaints of certain crimes, either due to the victims’ ignorance of the procedure to present them, for fear of retaliation or the preconceived idea that time is wasted in the process.

“The Prosecutor’s Office makes a public call to citizens to attend the Flagrancia offices, we attend 24 hours a day. Here the victim is accompanied, they are advised, their complaint is received and, if the case warrants it, the person can be included in the victim and witness protection program ”, assures prosecutor Vizueta.

On Sundays, more calls are registered for incidents related to citizen security, in Guayaquil

What to do to reduce the risks of suffering an express kidnapping?

The chief of operations of Zone 8 of the Police and the flagrante delicto prosecutor consulted by this newspaper suggest that the public take into account the following tips to have a safe transfer:

• Use a reliable transportation service: an acquaintance who works as a taxi driver, a company that in its terms and conditions guarantees the safety of its users, or legally structured cooperatives with the attention of fixed telephone operators.
• Ask a neighbor, acquaintance or friend to help you with the move.
• If you take a taxi on public roads, it must be verified that the vehicle has the formal markings that a conventional taxi should have: yellow cars, orange license plate, visible name of the cooperative and the unit numbering.
• Ask the driver to take a specific route and tell him not to take shortcuts or other detours.
• Share the real-time location and other data to a family member or trusted person.
• Require the driver to lock the vehicle doors.
• Avoid distractions, such as constant cell phone use. That favors the offender for the surprise effect. (I)