... Things fall apart; the center cannot hold ...'Under Siege': Armed Bank Robbers Launch Assault On Brazilian Cityhttps://www.theguardian.com/world/2020/dec/01/armed-bank-robbers-assault-brazilian-city-criciuma-siegeBank robbers armed with military-grade weapons have laid siege to a city in southern Brazil, torching vehicles, kidnapping government workers, blowing up a bank and engaging in a two-hour gun battle as the mayor begged residents to stay indoors.
Access points to the city were reportedly blocked to prevent police reinforcements from responding to around 30 hooded individuals running amok.
The audacious heist reportedly injured two people and left banknotes strewn across the ground in the city of Criciúma (pop 220,000).
https://twitter.com/WhyDoISabotage/status/1333641654637645824 Clésio Salvaro, the mayor of Criciúma, warned residents to stay at home in the early hours amid reports that criminals were running amok in the city.
Shooting and explosions were heard throughout the city overnight,
Globo reported. A number of people were taken hostage but they were later released unharmed, Salvaro told the network.
Brazil has a long history of bank heists, according to
Reuters, and major lenders have struggled with a wave of violent robberies in recent years as criminals have mastered the use of explosives to access cash. (better than an ATM)
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Horde of Brazilian Bank Robbers Attack Another City, Kill 1https://apnews.com/article/brazil-media-robbery-8646a320b40f8c9b5e44a4ad4af3f1a4RIO DE JANEIRO (AP) — A large gang of heavily armed bank robbers invaded the Brazilian city of Cameta just one day after a similar force struck another mid-sized city on the opposite side of the country, taking residents hostage as they looted a bank.
Para state’s public security secretariat said in a statement Wednesday that more than 20 criminals with assault rifles attacked a branch of the state-run Bank of Brazil in the city in the Amazon region overnight.
Video on social media showed a line of roughly a dozen hostages being led away from a square in Cameta, a city of 140,000 people, and shots ringing out in the night. Local media reported that a military police station was attacked, preventing officers from responding.
As in Criciuma, they took actions to impede police response and fired shots into the air, apparently to scare people and keep them at home.
The robberies took place at the start of December, when bank coffers are filled in anticipation of employees withdrawing their year-end bonuses, according to Cássio Thyone, a council member of the non-profit Brazilian Forum on Public Safety. Many Brazilians get an extra month’s salary paid out in December, known as the 13th salary.
“It doesn’t happen without planning,” Thyone told the Associated Press by phone. “It’s another demonstration that everything is planned. They think of the location, and the timing.”