The driver of an Expresos Mérida bus that covered the San Cristóbal-Puerto La Cruz route was injured and the 12 passengers he was transporting were robbed on the Gómez Bridge in Barcelona, a few meters from the Los Potocos de la Troncal 9 toll booth.
Representatives of the transport company indicated that the double-decker bus, number 149 in the fleet, Busscar brand, white, was ambushed in the early hours of Saturday, March 19, by a group of assailants who placed obstacles on the road.
The driver, identified as Álvaro José Chacón Rodríguez, said that he was unable to cross the barricade and when he stopped, more than ten people came out of the brush with firearms and others with stones and sticks that they threw at the unit to force them to open the doors.
He assures that he was pushed out of the vehicle and subdued by a group of people, men and women, while the other group went up to go through the two floors of the unit to strip the 12 passengers whose destination was the port terminal of their belongings. The cross.
One of the passengers assures that the criminals shot the driver who got off when they left the place.
According to company records, the bus left at 6 pm on Friday from the San Cristóbal terminal with 50 passengers, but made stops in other cities such as Maracay, Valencia and Caracas to drop off some people.
After the fact, drivers who passed through the road reported to the authorities and commissions from the GNB, Polianzoátegui and Polibolívar arrived at the site.
The vehicle was taken to the Cicpc headquarters and the injured driver, who was taken to the Luis Razetti hospital in primary instance, was admitted to the IVSS Domingo Guzmán Lander, with a wound to the abdomen that affected part of the intestines.
