About twenty hooded and heavily armed men attempted a daring robbery at midday on Thursday, November 4 in an affluent neighborhood of the city of Medellin (north-western Colombia), which ultimately ended in exchanges of shootings with the police and the arrest of eleven suspects.
The robbers were targeting a gold deposit in the el Poblado district, but were surprised by a police patrol, according to impressive footage filmed by onlookers' cellphones, videos which quickly went viral on Colombian social networks.
Fleeing on foot or by mounting precipitously on a dozen motorcycles, the attackers, some with bulletproof vests, opened fire in the street with automatic weapons on the police.
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It is an
"attempted theft by an organized criminal gang which apparently prepared its coup for months,"
Medellin mayor Daniel Quintero told reporters.
"They thought they were going to do
La casa de papel here," blasted the city councilor, referring to a famous Netflix series recounting the exploits of a team of robbers.
"But no gentlemen, this is not Netflix here!" Let this be a message to all criminals, ”
he added.
Eleven suspects were captured by police in the pursuits that followed the assault.
One of them is injured and has undergone surgery, according to the mayor.
The police arrested a first suspect who was on the lookout in front of the targeted warehouse, police general Javier Jose Martin explained during a press conference.
“At the sight of a patrol car, he got scared, warned the other criminals who were inside the establishment.
Then began the exchanges of fire "
, detailed General Martin, specifying that two police officers had been" slightly injured ".
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Seven guns, five motorcycles, six bulletproof vests and a vehicle were seized, according to the officer.
The scene recalled the worst years of drug terrorism in Medellin, during the relentless war waged by Pablo Escobar's cartel against the state in the 1980s and 1990s. Crime remains high in the city of 2.5 million today. inhabitants, which has recorded 332 murders since the beginning of January 2021.