39. Crime in BA (B.A, Argentina)

OK, here's a story told to me by one of my students last week, which I meant to write about in my last post but forgot to.

Random pic: BA's central Cathedral

2 weekends ago my student, Diego, was going to a birthday party at a friend's house with his wife. They arrived at the address, and after parking their car in the street they got held up by a group of 3 men, wearing bullet-proof vests and carrying pistols.
- Where's your house, your house?
- Diego: I don't know, we don't live here, we're going to a party.
- Where?
- Ah, over there.
So then Diego and his wife got buzzed in to the house where the party was (nearly every house and apartment in BA has an intercom entry system), along with the gang of 3 robbers.
The robbers then herded the entire party (20 or 30 people) onto the back patio.
- OK, everyone, your cellphones.
Then went the jewellery, and the cash from everyone's wallets. From the owner of the house (who's birthday it was) they took his DVD and stereo as well. Oh, and here it's common to bring cash as a gift to a party for the birthday boy, so everyone was carrying more than usual.
- OK, everyone, what we've taken from you today isn't enough. You, your car keys. And yours. And yours. Let's go, we're going to your house.
Fortunately that was a bluff, they didn't go to anyone else's house but they did take Diego's car. His car was later found by the police in a rough villa outside of BA - surprisingly in good condition, only missing the spare wheel.

Random pic: Cloud ripples at sunset from my balcony

The whole thing was, as they say, like a movie. But it's all too common here - so common that it wouldn't even have been reported in the press. Still, it was the first time Diego had ever been robbed, but the locals I've told the story to are never surprised that something like that happened. The robbers themselves were very cool, they were professional thieves. From his manner Diego thinks that it's possible the leader of the band was an off-duty policeman. They were well enough prepared - bullet-proof vests, pistols, and walkie-talkies, as well as 2 scouts keeping watch outside. They certainly hit the jackpot by finding a birthday party and not simply robbing a house as it seemed they had planned to.