Nine companies have filed criminal charges against students from a teacher training college in Tiripetío, Michoacán, for the theft of merchandise from trucks during roadblocks last week.

The state Attorney General’s office (FGE) said it has opened investigations into the incidents of theft by students of the Vasco de Quiroga college when they hijacked 28 vehicles on the Morelia-Pátzcuaro highway on Thursday and Friday. Among the companies that made the complaints were PepsiCo, Bimbo and 90.com.

According to the newspaper El Financiero, the total merchandise stolen totaled at least half a million pesos (US $26,000).

About 200 students blocked the  highway and hijacked trucks and buses belonging to various companies and took them to the Tiripetío school. Later on Friday, the students released nine trucks.

But a Bimbo truck driver said the students stole all the merchandise inside the truck, as well as the spare tires.

The hijackings were part of a protest campaign by students demanding better scholarships and automatic job placement after graduation. Students from the Tiripetío school, as well as another teacher training college in Cherán, are still holding at least 17 buses and 20 trucks.

Source: El Financiero (sp), La Jornada (sp)