Tag: gang

Haitian gang kills at least 70 people, including 3 infants, UN says

By Harold Isaac PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -Armed men belonging to the Gran Grif gang killed at least 70 people, including three infants, as they swept through a Haitian town shooting automatic rifles at residents, a spokesperson for the United Nations’ Human Rights Office said on Friday. “We are horrified by Thursday’s gang attacks in the town of Pont-Sonde in Haiti’s Artibonite department,” spokesperson Thameen Al-Kheetan said in a statement. At least another 16 people were seriously […]

Haiti key port closed to land access after gang attacks

PORT-AU-PRINCE (Reuters) -Land access to a vital supply port in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince is being closed off after attacks by armed gangs, operator Caribbean Port Services (CPS) said on Thursday. “CPS will shut its barriers to all types of land-based traffic from Sept. 26 to Sept. 29,” it said in a statement, saying that the suspension should allow the army and national police to secure the area. A shipping official told Reuters this […]

Gangs make advances as conditions in Haiti worsen

UNITED NATIONS, United States, March 22, 2024 (AFP) – Haiti’s gangs have made advances in Port-au-Prince, a UN official reported Thursday, with political parties inching toward forming a transition government and new bloodshed roiling the troubled Caribbean nation. Police in Port-au-Prince confirmed that a major gang leader, Ernst Julme, known as Ti Greg, was slain in a clash with security forces. Julme led the Delmas 95 gang. Addressing a news conference from Haiti via videolink, […]

EU says all diplomatic personnel evacuated from Haiti

BRUSSELS, Belgium, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – The European Union has evacuated all its diplomatic personnel from Haiti because of “the dramatic deterioration of the security situation” there with armed gangs taking control of much of its capital, a spokesman said Monday. “Currently we have removed and evacuated all the EU staff from Haiti,” said European Commission spokesman Peter Stano. The European Union is “extremely concerned” about developments in Haiti over recent days, he added. […]

How Haiti’s gangs grew into ‘Frankenstein’ monsters

By Aziz EL MASSASSI WASHINGTON, March 11, 2024 (AFP) – The latest violence in Haiti underscores the powerful sway of armed gangs, which have profited from collusion with the authorities, institutional negligence and political chaos since the assassination of President Jovenel Moise in 2021. The gangs sowing terror in the impoverished Caribbean island have morphed into de facto overlords. Now they are demanding the ouster of Prime Minister Ariel Henry, whose successor would have been […]

Prosecutor probing gang-related Ecuador TV studio attack is killed

QUITO, Jan 17, 2024 (AFP) – The prosecutor investigating a dramatic armed assault by gangsters last week on an Ecuadoran television station during a live broadcast was shot dead Wednesday, the attorney general said. A prosecution source told AFP that Cesar Suarez had been in charge of finding the gang responsible for the terror-inspiring attack on state-owned TC Television in the port city of Guayaquil by hooded assailants armed with guns and explosives. AFP obtained […]

At least 234 dead or hurt in Haiti gang violence from July 8-12: UN

  by Christophe VOGT Agence France Presse Gang violence killed or injured at least 234 people from July 8-12 in Haiti’s Cite Soleil, an impoverished and densely populated neighbourhood of the capital Port-au-Prince, the United Nations said on Saturday. The unrest erupted between two rival factions and the city’s ill-equipped and understaffed police failed to intervene, trapping residents in their homes, unable to go out for even food and water. With many houses in the […]

Armed robbers seize jewels worth ‘4 million euros’ from Paris Ritz

PARIS, France (AFP) — A gang of five armed robbers launched a spectacular raid on the world famous Ritz hotel in Paris Wednesday, making off with an estimated four million euros worth of jewels, investigators said. Three of the gang were detained at the scene but two remained at large as of Thursday evening, a police source said. A judicial source put the value of the jewels seized at “more than four million euros” ($4.75 […]

Philippine militants release Filipina hostage: police

JOLO, Philippines (AFP) — A Filipina held hostage by a notorious kidnapping-for-ransom gang in the strife-torn southern Philippines was released from captivity Friday, police said, a week after her Canadian boyfriend was beheaded by the gunmen. Marites Flor was among four people abducted nine months ago by Abu Sayyaf Islamic militants based on remote and mountainous southern islands that have earned millions of dollars from kidnappings in recent years. Flor’s partner, Robert Hall, was murdered […]