AMAZON RIVER ROBBERY

Posted on 07/22/2016 | About Peru

Passengers on Delfin Amazon Cruise’s Amazon Discovery were awoken early last Thursday morning when a group of eight armed men arrived by two speedboats and boarded the ship. The assailants left within a half hour with cash, electronics and other goods but not before beating the captain with a hand pistol.

The passports were locked in a safe, but the 50 passengers and 20 crewmembers were stripped of their cell phones, tablets, jewelry and cash; a haul estimated to be worth $20,000.00.
It was the second day of a three-day sailing on the Amazon River in Peru.
All passengers were escorted back to Iquitos by the coast guard after the incident.
Delfin Amazon Cruises stated that many of the tourists chose to return to their home countries and that the company’s insurance policy will cover the passengers’ losses.
Oscar Garrido, captain of the Iquitos port police, told El Comercio that he had recently met with representatives from the tourist agencies which offer cruises of the Amazon, Ucayali and Marañon rivers.
“We asked them to hire armed security guards and that they activate their GPS systems,” Garrido said. “We cannot accompany all [passenger boats] along the route because we have more than 6,000 miles of jungle to take care of.”
The Amazon Discover was equipped with a camera, and police will use the video coverage for their investigation.
The captain of the ship did not sustain serious injuries.