A viral video of a piranha robbery in the Anchorena tunnel, in Once, exposed the situation that residents and those who usually pass through there suffer daily, as well as through the Jean Jaures underpass. In that case, recorded by a camera on board a car, two 15-year-old teenagers were arrested, one with a history of
66 visits to police stations
. They are accused of being part of the group of four thieves who tried to rob a delivery man on a motorcycle when he was traveling through the underpass.
The suspects were arrested on Sunday for the theft of a cell phone from a man in Sarmiento 2700. After a series of expert reports on the video images and security cameras in the area, they saw that they were the same as those from the attack on the delivery.
The two are already known in the area. One of them has 66 entries to the police station, 65 of them between 2020 and 2024 and the majority for robberies and thefts, according to police sources told
Clarín
. The last one, before Sunday's, had been on April 5. The other minor has four priors. But since they are unimpeachable, every time they are detained, Justice must release them.
"Everyone knows that they steal like hell here"
Thefts in this area of Balvanera are frequent. Horacio is 80 years old and retired. Every day he goes for a walk. It's a routine, but he changes the route depending on the schedule: if it's daytime, he can go through Mitre; When it gets dark, he prefers Rivadavia Avenue. “At night I don't even go through Miter or Sarmiento.
“Everyone knows that they rob like crazy here
, and I'm not going to risk it,” he tells
Clarín
, and opens his arms, as if looking for an answer. “I have been in the area for more than 40 years, and every day it gets a little worse.”
Miriam, Pablo and Andrés work in the General Directorate of Statistics and Census of the City Government, whose building is on Perón Street, almost on the corner of Anchorena. They look at a TV mobile that is parked in the corner. “Now, since television came, there are police officers walking around, but then you can't see them,” they complain.
The main problem they have refers to the entry and exit times: when winter arrives, they go to work early in the morning and leave in the afternoon, after 6:00 p.m.: it is almost always night at that time. "Not even the night workers stay at night," they add.
Miriam lives in Pompeya and, to avoid robberies, every day she must combine with other colleagues to leave work together and walk the meters that separate Perón Street from Rivadavia Avenue, between which are both tunnels. Andrés lives in Laferrere, west of the Conurbano, and since it is already night when he leaves, he must take an intermediate bus from his work to a safer area, in Flores. If there were not so much insecurity, he comments, he could take another bus in the vicinity of his work.
Pablo, on the other hand, lives in Almagro and every day he goes to work and comes back, walking. “I have to have four eyes and watch carefully if someone approaches me, or walks behind me, or if someone stops in front of me.
If you come here distracted, you are a ticket
.”
And among the three they point to the Station Park, inaugurated in 2019, on Sarmiento Railway land that was previously occupied. However, for all three the problem continues. Miriam points to the apex of a walkway to access the park in Anchorena and Perón.
“That part is
tough
. Several people usually sleep or spend the nights there, but others hide there after stealing,” says Miriam. And Andrés adds: “That complex is completely open at all hours, and it is also
chosen as an escape route
: they steal in the street and sneak through there towards the tracks. Afterwards, he goes looking for them…”
Pedro and Cristina live in Agüero and Sarmiento, and walk their dogs in Julio César Fumarola Square, also on Perón crossing Anchorena. "All the neighbors complain about the insecurity, we all suffer from it," says Pedro, and looks at Cristina: her cell phone was stolen weeks ago. "And
every day we see the thief
, who sleeps on the sidewalk of a house above Agüero and Corrientes. The same thing happened to a friend of mine a few days ago and we are overwhelmed by the impotence of not being able to do anything or complain to anyone. Do you think that with two or three police officers on duty this will be resolved? Cristina claims.
While
Clarín
talks with the couple, a police officer walks through the tunnel. This is what Police Station 3A has arranged: that
an officer guard, in turn, each of the two tunnels and their surroundings
, in reverse order, so as not to overlap the guarded areas. Also, for a few minutes, City Police motorcycles were seen touring the area and being present at the scene.
However, the neighbors observe two issues that “help” the thieves: on the one hand, a single police officer who has to guard certain blocks and cannot be guarding only one tunnel all the time and, therefore, neglect other parts; and, on the other hand, they notice a problem with the design of the tunnels.
That of Jean Jaures has two lungs in the middle in which, according to the neighbors, thieves usually hide. Thus, the pedestrian, who could look from one end of the tunnel to the other and see no one, could also be surprised by one or more thieves. Neighbors say that the modus operandi is always the same: the attackers usually make a pincer movement and surround their victim from the front and back, leaving them with no escape.
For its part, the Tomás Manuel de Anchorena tunnel has other characteristics, also used by thieves. This passage is narrower than that of Jean Jaures. It has only one path, on the north side, protected by fences. In addition, a traffic light cuts off traffic on the corner of Anchorena and Perón, so a line of cars and motorcycles forms inside the tunnel.
When asked by
Clarín
, police sources said that they have identified those who rob and come from the west of the Conurbano, by train. "They are not the people who are in the ranches. They come to the city to steal and leave. They are minors, they are arrested, they go to the Inchausti Institute, but due to their age they leave the next day," said a police spokesperson.
Lucas (30) is from Trujui, Moreno district, and works as a delivery for an application. In the afternoon he does it at Once until 10 pm. Then, no more, because it's not possible, he says. "
At night, this area is no man's land
.
They, the delivery people, took us for granted
: they want to steal our cell phones, our motorcycles, and they think we have money on us."
On the other hand, he affirms, they almost do not handle cash, but only what is necessary to pay for certain orders. “Every day we find out that they tried to rob or robbed a colleague. In the Anchorena tunnel they live with us punching: as the traffic light cuts and we are inside the tunnel, without any room for maneuver,
the snatchers
zigzag between the cars and motorcycles
to see who they can punch,” adds Lucas.
Damiana and Héctor, an elderly couple, chat in the hallway of their house in Sarmiento and Anchorena with a neighbor, Viviana. The two women talk about prices. Regarding insecurity, they both say: "Another reason not to go out shopping!"
Héctor is a retired police officer and, although he says he is not afraid, he also takes precautions. He looks at a blind on the corner of Miter and Anchorena, which is all black, in which he says that
they burn the cables that are stolen in the area
. And he adds: "And they know another trick:
they have a record of where the tunnel lighting board is
, so at night these miscreants cut off the light and go to get in. The thieves here smoke under the water."
Viviana says that the last thing she does of the day, before confining herself to her house, is pick up her granddaughter from school. "Afterwards you can't leave: the area is very dark and there is a lot of insecurity. Most of them are kidnappers who don't forgive anyone." Then, she lists and points in the distance, together with Damiana, places that are, for them, shelters. These snatchers live and hide in those places.
Damiana clarifies that insecurity decreased in part after the eviction of land where a recycling plant operated and which, in reality, belonged to a bus line, 129. However, thefts are still commonplace and all the neighbors They take great care to do minimal things, such as shopping or chatting with neighbors.
Report: Ignacio Sala - Clarín Master's Degree / University of San Andrés
MG