A truck driver died in his cab after being shot while driving on a highway in central Veracruz last month, another victim of a huge increase in violent highway robberies in the state.
The driver was killed, but not before he ran his assailants off the road, causing their vehicle to burst into flames. The armed men burned to death inside.
According to media reports, the truck driver was traveling on the Matatenatito-La Quebradora highway in the municipality of Omealca on December 22 when he and his brother were shot at by men whose aim was to stop and rob the truck, which was transporting Christmas food products.
Even though the unnamed driver was shot in the chest he refused to stop.
As the would-be thieves were pursuing him, the wounded driver rammed their vehicle, causing it to veer off the highway and hit a tree before igniting. Reports didn’t specify how many assailants died in the vehicle fire.
The truck driver subsequently crashed into a highway barrier, the newspaper Reforma reported, and died a short time later from his injuries.
Local Civil Protection personnel attended the scene and transported the driver’s brother to hospital in Córdoba where he was treated for multiple gunshot wounds.
Violent robberies of truck drivers increased 282% in Veracruz in the first 11 months of last year, according to data from the National Public Security System. Authorities opened 111 investigations into truck robberies in the Gulf coast state between January and November 2019 compared to just 29 in the same period of the year before.
The Minatitlán-Las Tinajas and Orizaba-Cumbres de Maltrata highways recorded the highest number of incidents, according to the federal Attorney General’s Office.
Federal authorities have located several warehouses in the state where goods stolen from trucks, including cleaning products, seeds, furniture, beer, mattresses, sugar and building materials, were stored.
The theft from trucks of livestock, domestic appliances, clothes, shoes, soft drinks and refrigerated foodstuffs is also common.
The worst state for truck robberies is México, where the crime rose 40% in the first 11 months of last year to a total of 4,150 incidents. The second worst state was Puebla, where there were 1,968 truck robberies as of the end of November.
The crime is common on the highways from Puebla to both Tlaxcala and Veracruz, Reforma said, even though they are patrolled by state police and the National Guard.
