In Riohacha, thieves entered the sea to flee, but they almost drowned

For these holidays, thousands of national and international tourists arrive to the beaches of the Colombian Caribbean to enjoy a few days of rest; meanwhile, friends of the outside are alert to visitors' carelessness to take their personal belongings. In the last few hours, in Riohacha, La Guajira, bathers caught two criminals who were stealing cell phones on the beach.

Two young men stabbed a woman who was playing sports on Riohacha's first avenue. After stealing her cell phone, they fled to the beach. The woman, despite the threat with the gun, alerted the community, which began to chase the two young men down the street until they reached the beach.

The situation got out of control in the face of the wrath of the tourists, who were about to lynch the robbers. The criminals avoided the angry mob by going into the sea. However, as is popularly said, the remedy turned out to be worse than the disease, as the thieves ended up asking for help because they were drowning.

According to Gabriel Villar, one of the witnesses, quoted by El Tiempo, the young men jumped into the sea and managed to swim about 800 meters deep into the Caribbean Sea and were washed out to sea, which stopped the crowd from chasing them. However, minutes later people noticed that the thieves started screaming for help.

Without realizing it, the farther they moved away from the crowd, so did they from the mainland. The authorities arrived at the scene, who rescued the criminals and, when they were taken to the beach, they had to take care of them from the angry crowd, as he still intended to punish those people. According to witnesses to the situation who spoke with local media, the young people did not appear to be between the ages of 17 and 16.

The events were recorded in the sector of the El Faro neighborhood, where authorities and fishermen went to help rescue the young people. According to the Bogotá newspaper, eight fishermen who were on the beach noticed the situation and came to the rescue of the robbers; while, according to RCN Mundo, they were also helped by the staff of the Guardians Foundation of La Guajira.

The witness pointed out that the young people “were without strength, exhausted, almost fainted, the pelaos were like good swimmers, thanks to that they were also saved. If they hadn't gone for them, they drown, because they could hardly see each other from the shore.”

Once on the beach, the young people were taken care of by the authorities, while they were taking care of those who also demanded them for the theft they had committed minutes earlier. Although the events took place near the Riohacha Judicial Prison, the witness said that several called the police to capture the young people, but no one arrived.

The majority of the community agreed that young people had already received sufficient punishment for almost losing their lives at sea, fleeing for their crimes. After verifying that they were in perfect condition, the thieves returned the stolen objects to the woman and fled the scene.

The Riohacha authorities have alerted the community and tourists to the increase in thefts this Holy Week, when criminals take advantage of the number of visitors to the beaches to commit their misdeeds. Recently, the Riohacha Police captured an 18-year-old boy who had just stolen two cell phones, in the form of a raponazo, on the beach.

According to the authorities, the boy took advantage of the fact that the bathers were about to enter the sea, so he ran past and took their cell phones from their hands, both teams were valued at more than half a million pesos and were recovered.

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