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Real-Life Account of a “Secuestro Express” (Express Kidnapping) Victim

Last week I got a forward from a very reliable source that contained the unedited account of a Panamanian girl, victim of an express kidnapping (commonly known as “secuestro express”). During the holidays, crime rates go up to unprecedented levels and you unfortunately hear cases like these more often during this time than at any other during the year. For those of you not familiar with the concept, allow Wikipedia to break it down for you:

Express kidnapping (Spanish: secuestro express), is a method of abduction used in some countries, mainly from Latin America, where a small ransom, that a company or family can easily pay, is requested. It is most common in Mexico, Colombia, and Brazil. It was frequent in Argentina following its political and economic crisis in 2001. ATM abductions, where the victim is forced to withdraw money from his or her account, are common in many urban areas of Mexico, Venezuela, Peru, and Brazil. Express kidnappings have been known of in the US since at least July 30, 1986 when US Representative Mario Biaggi proposed having all ATM networks reprogrammed to recognize that an alternate, emergency PIN had been used to withdraw the cash.

The first cases of express kidnappings in Panama started coming up on news outlets around 2005, but who knows for how long they’ve been happening. Still, I believe it’s good to get the word out on accounts like these, so I’ve taken the liberty to translate the girl’s account for you to read. The original, unedited Spanish version comes first, followed by the English translation below .

Hola:

Primero que todo, disculpas por un mail tan largo, pero me sirve tanto a mi para desahogarme como a todos ustedes para aprender una lección.

Waooo, la verdad no puedo creer que yo este escribiendo esto… después de tantas veces que leí o escuche sobre casos así y pensé: “cónchale poresita, que cagada, las cosas estan feas, este país ya no es el mismo, etc, etc”..Pero aún cuando las noticias eran tan frencuentes yo lo veía como algo lejano, y aunque andaba super precavida pensaba que nunca me iba a suceder a mi, pero me sucedió.

Recuerdo que hace dos semanas fui a cenar con unas amigas a Multiplaza, y al montarme a mi carro, un carro que estaba atrás prendió las luces y arrancó al mismo tiempo, yo recé y dije “Ay Dios protegeme”, pero al instante el carro tomó otra vía..Esto solo lo digo para que entiendan lo “cuidadosa o paranoíca que andaba”.

Bueno, ahora si les voy a compartir los momentos de terror que pasé:

El martes pasado (25 de noviembre) fui de compras a Albrook Mall, a eso de las 6:45pm salí de una tienda que queda al lado de los Cines, venía hablando por celular con mi novio y quedamos que ibamos a cenar con un amigo, yo le dije “A penas voy saliendo de Albrook, mejor adelantate tu y nos encontramos”. Iba a entrar a otra tienda pero pense, ya van a ser las 7 asi que mejor me voy, seguí caminando y sali (por la entrada de la Zebra donde queda  Estampa con Multimax), caminé hacia el carro que estaba estacionado exactamente en la isleta que queda recto en esa misma salida, super visilbe, con luz (ahh y había bastante gente parada en la entrada del mall porque estaba llovisnando)…Abrí mi puerta para dejar los cartuchos y la cartera, en este instante senti como me calleron encima, me empujaron dentro del carro, me golpiaron la espalda, me agarraron las piernas los brazos, la boca, y me gritaban “CALLATE O TE MATAMOS, mil veces”, el terror que senti en ese momento fue tan pero tan espantoso que perdí en control de mi y me orine del miedo. Eran tres tipos, al principio tenian máscaras y guantes.. Me tiraron para la parte de atrás del carro, me esposaron, me tiraron al piso y el de atrás me tapaba la boca con su guante (el olor era tan asqueroso).

Cuando ya me tenian esposada, y tirada en el piso, uno grito “LA TENEMOS DOMINADA”. Todo esto ocurrió en menos 2 minutos.

Luego arrancaron el carro; el que iba manejando no sabía ni quitar el freno de mano, le tuve que decir que era con el pie. Mientras que manejaban me gritaban, que les diera todo, registraban todo mi carro, sacaban todo de mi cartera, me revisaban para ver mis joyas. Yo le decía señores tranquilos, les prometo que voy a cooperar, les explicaba donde estaba todo, me quite los anillos, el collar..

A todo esto, me advirtieron como 1000 veces, en donde nos veas la cara a alguno estas MUERTA, por lo cual ni lo intenté.. es más, el tipo de atrás me levantaba el pelo (poniendome el cuchillo en el cuello para verme la cara, y yo le decia Noooooooooo señor no puedo verlo.

Pason 5 minutos…pararon y dejaron al que iba adelante en algún lugar (a encontrarse con los otros tipos y a empezar a sacar la plata de las tarjetas), ese fue el que se llevó mi wallet con todo.. y alli es donde empezo todo…

Hace un par de meses atrás, yo había visto un mail de recomendaciones para evitar los robos, y una de esas era que no tuvieras mucho dinero en la clave, por lo cual había tomado la decisión de no tener  mis ahorros en esa clave, y transfererir mensualmente..para tener lo menos posible. En el wallet en efectivo solo tenía 60 dólares, y en la clave 40 dólares, pero lamentablemente tenía 5 tarjetas de crédito.

Digo que allí fue donde empezo todo porque cuando el tipo que se bajo, llamó al celular del que estaba sentado atrás me lo puso, y me pregunto mi pin de la clave, y se dió cuenta que solo tenía 40 dólares, se volvió como LOCO, me dijo que le diera todos los pines de mis tarjetas de crédito, y obviamente no me sabía ninguno, y me gritó bueno..TE MORISTE

El tipo, me dijo pasame al que otro (al que me llevababa atras)… Hablaron, le paso el cel al que iba manejando… luego tranco y allí empezaron a golpiarme, a decirme las cosas más horrorosas que le pueden decir a nadie en su vida, a escupirme, y a decirme que el señor del otro carro (el jefe asumo) decia que me convencieran de darles los pines porque sino me iban a matar.

El tipo llamaba cada 10 minutos para ver si ya habia hablado, y hacía que los que iban en el carro se volvierona locos y me empezaban a golpiar y gritar denuevo.

A todo esto estabamos metidos en un tranque increible, varias veces escuche que mencionaron Vía Brazil, pasamos un retén y lo evadieron, pasamos varias garitas del corredor sur, los tipos se peliaban una droga que se les había perdido, pararon en algún lugar a comprar cervezar y cigarrillos.. el tipo de atrás me ofrecia, y el otro decía PA QUE LE VAS A DAR SI YA LA VAMOS A MATAR..

Bueno, la verdad es que he resumido muchisisismo todas las cosas espantosas que me decían porque creo que no viene al caso.

Llegamos a un lugar y nos encontramos con los otros tipos, a todo esto yo tirada en el piso agachada, golpiada, esposada y con los ojos tapados rogando por mi vida.. Cuando llegaron los otros se reunieron y empezaron a discutir si me mataban o no, y a gritarme TE MERECES MORIR, y cosas horribles… Luego de de algunos minutos de discusión y gritos, se dieron cuenta que se habían perdido las llaves de las esposas, y empezaron a discutir que las necesitaban, y uno da la idea de cortarme la mano, asumo que para quitarme el reloj que estaba trabado con la esposa…Se alejaron del carro (yo no escuchaba nada…asi que la agonía era espantosa)

Se montaron nuevamente, de alli arrancamos, manejaron como 15 minutos, llegaron a un lugar, me dijeron TE SALVASTE, te vamos a dejar aquí, espera 10 minutos, y me dijeron exactamente por donde salir, incluso me dijeron como llegar a la policia para que me quitaran las esposas (increible no!).

No pasaron ni 2 minutos, me pasé para adelante, arranque el carro y maneje esposada como a 120 km/ h, en una calle de piedritas, llegue a una casa me baje lloviendo a pedir ayuda, y lo demás es historia.

El lugar donde me encontró la policia se llama el Lago, queda por el Machetazo de Tocumen, todo esto duró de 6:45 a 9:45, y solo les puedo decir que es la experiencia de terror más grande que he pasado y pasaré en mi vida (espero).

Lo que pienso que me salvó la vida, y que recomiendo es:

• No entren en pánico, no griten ni pataleen, no los insulten, no intenten escapar, es su vida lo que en juego.
• Recen… Encomiéndense a San Miguel Arcangel (1000% que el fue el que me salvo la vida)
• Cooperen, mantengan la calma,  entreguen todo

Por otro lado:

• Si tienen que ir al Mall, NUNCA vayan solas (yo estaba  super cerca de la entrada y miren lo que me sucedió)
• No les pongan vidríos ahumados a su carro. Si no los hubiera tenido no me huebieran elegido a mi

Now that the Spanish account is out there, here’s the translation. The more you spread the word, and I hate to sound corny about this but it’s true, the more lives you can save.

Hello:

First of all, my apologies for such a long email, but it help me by letting me vent out as much as it helps you to learn a lesson.

Wow, the truth is I can’t believe I’m writing this… after the bunch of times I read or heard about cases like this I thought: “crap, poor girl, that sucks, things are bad, this country isn’t the same, etc. etc.” But even when the news were so frequent I saw it as this distant thing, and even though I was super cautious I thought it would never happen to me, but it did.

I remember that two weeks ago I went for dinner with some friends at Multiplaza, and when I got into my car another car that was behind me turned on its lights, turning on the engine at the same time. I prayed and said “Oh God, protect me,” but almost instantly the car turned a corner. I’m just saying this for you to understand how “careful and paranoid I was.”

Well, now’s the time to share the horrible incident I went through:

Last Tuesday (November 25th) I went shopping at Albrook Mall, at around 6:45pm I left a store that’s located right next to the movie theater. I was talking with my boyfriend over the phone and we scheduled to go grab dinner with a friend, and I told him “I’m just leaving Albrook, so just go ahead and we’ll meet over there.” I was about to go into another store but I thought to myself it was already going to be 7pm so I should go; I kept walking and left (through the Zebra entrance, where Estampa and Multimax are), walked towards the car which was parked exactly on the curb that’s on the sidewalk directly in front of that exit, super visible, with light (and there were plenty of people standing by the mall entrance since it was drizzling).

I opened my door to leave my bags and purse, and that instant I felt how someone ambushed me, pushed me into the car, punched my back, grabbed my legs and arms, mouth and yelled “SHUT UP OR WE KILL YOU, a thousand times”, the terror that came over me that moment was so, so horrifying that I lost control of myself and peed my pants out of fear.

They were three guys, at first wearing masks and gloves. They threw me to the back seat of the car, handcuffed me, threw me to the floor and the guy on the back seat would cover my mouth with his glove (the stench was gross).

When they handcuffed me and on the floor, one of them yelled “WE HAVE HER DOMINATED.” All of this happened in under 2 minutes.

Then they started the car; the one driving didn’t even know how to take off the handbrake; I had to tell him you took it off with your foot. While they drove they would yell at me, telling me to give everything up, searched my whole car, took everything out of my purse, checked to see if I had any jewelery. I kept telling them to be calm, promised I’d cooperate, explained where everything was, took off my rings, the necklace…
While this was happening, they warned me about 1,000 times, how if I got to see any of their faces I’d be DEAD, and that’s why I didn’t even try. What’s more, the guy on the back seat kept lifting up my hair (putting his knife on my neck so he could see my face, and I kept telling him “Noooooooooo sir, I can’t see you!”). 5 minutes passed and they left whoever was on the front seat somewhere (to meet up with the others and start taking out the money from the credit cards), that was the guy who took my wallet with everything… and that’s where everything started.

A couple of months ago, I had seen an email detailing recommendations to avoid muggings, and one of them was to not have too much money in the ATM card, so I had made the decision to not keep my savings in the ATM card and simply transfer my funds monthly to have as little as possible. My wallet just carried $60 cash, and $40 on the ATM card, but unfortunately had 5 credit cards.

I say that’s where it all started because when the guy that got off the car, he called the back seat passenger’s cell phone and put me on, asking me what the pin number of the ATM card was, and realized it only had $40 dollars. He went CRAZY and told me to give him the pin numbers of all of my credit cards, and I obviously didn’t know any of them. He then screamed “Well… YOU’RE DEAD.”

The guy told me to put the guy (on the back seat) on… they talked, passed the phone to the driver, locked the car and started beating me, telling me the most horrible things anyone can be told in their lives, spitting on me, and telling me that the man on the other car (their boss, I assume) told them to convince me to give them the pin numbers or else they were going to kill me.

The guy would call every 10 minutes to see if I had talked, and someone made the people in my car go crazy and kept on beating and screaming at me once more.

While this was happening we were in the middle of a huge traffic jam. I heard them mention Via Brazil several time, we passed a police roadblock and they evaded it, passed several Corredor Sur toll booths, the guys were fighting over some drugs they had lost, stopped some place to buy beer and cigarettes… the guy in the back seat would offer me, and one of the others kept saying FOR WHAT ARE YOU GIVING HER ANYTHING, WE’RE KILLING HER NOW ANYWAY.

Well, the truth is I’ve skipped an aweful lot, mostly the truly horrible things they’d say which I think aren’t really important to the story.

We finally stopped somewhere and met up with other guys, all of this while I was on the car floor crouched, beaten, handcuffed and with my eyes covered begging for my life when the others arrives. They got together, started arguing if they should kill me or not, and yell at me “YOU DESERVE TO DIE” and other horrible things… after a couple of minutes of arguing and yelling they realized they had lost the keys to the handcuffs and began to argue about how they needed them. One of them suggests cutting off my hand, I’m assuming to take off my watch which was jammed on the handcuffs… they backed away from the car (I couldn’t hear a thing… so the agony was horrible).

They got in the car again, started it and drove for about 15 minutes, got somewhere, and told me “IT’S YOUR LUCKY NIGHT, we’ll leave you here, wait 10 minutes,” and they told me exactly how to get out of where I was, they even told me how to get to the police station so they could take off my handcuffs (incredible, no?!).

Not 2 minutes passed, passed myself to the front seat, turned on the car and drove handcuffed at around 120km/h down a gravel road, and I can only tell you that it was the most terrifying experience I’ve been through and will go through in my life (I hope).

What I think saved my life, and recommend is:

• Don’t freak out, don’t go kicking and screaming, don’t insult them, don’t try to escape. It’s your life that’s at stake.
• Pray… pray to San Miguel Arcangel (100% sure it was what saved my life)
• Cooperate, keep your cool, and give them everything

On the other hand:

• If you have to go to the mall, NEVER go alone (I was super close to the entrance and look at what happened to me)
• Don’t taint your car’s windows. If mine hadn’t been they wouldn’t have picked me
• Have a sticker that can make your car identifiable

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