Haiti wanted Gangsters Hijack Armored Vehicles In Surprise Attack On Police

By Joseph Guyler C. Delva

Friday, Dec. 2, 2022

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (HCNN)- Mighty Haiti gangsters have hijacked at least 3 police vehicles, including 2 armored, amid a wave of gang violence that does not even spare the Caribbean country's police force, counting dozens of victims in their ranks, police sources say.

A high-ranking police officer told HCNN that a police armored vehicle

was seized, on the night of Oct. 12 to 13, 2022, by armed bandits controlling the Martissant slum area in the capital Port-au-Prince.

"An armored vehicle and several police weapons were hijacked and are still in the hands of the crimimals who are still using them to fight rival gangs," the police commissioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, told HCNN on Friday.

"As a police commissioner, I feel embarrassed and guilty, because I am among those who are supposed to make sure that gang violence is quelled and that security is guaranted," confessed the police commisioner, revealing that he

often thinks about the need to resign but many of his friends and allies have advised him not to.

A Gang leader, known as Crisla (a former policeman), has claimed responsability for the move to seize the police armored vehicle and several weapons.

"My men and I made the move because we had learned that a group of evil people were about to attack the police, so we said we were not going to let that happen," said Crisla in a voice message released on social media.

"Because if that had happened, those guys would have used the police materials to further terrorize the population," stated Crisla, who pretends to be a protector for the people of the areas under his control.

In an early statement after the incidents, the gang leader had promised that they would return everything they took from the police, which they never did.

Crisla has often engaged in fierce and deadly fights with rival gang, led by Ti Lapli, over attempts to expand their respective territories.

Another feared gang - based at Canaan, a makeshift housing community set up after the 2010 earthquake - also seized, on Nov. 12, a police armored vehicle which they had set on fire.

After an exchange of heavy gunfire with the bandits, the police officers decided to flee for their lives.

"We are asking any police officer who would hear this message to alert CRO (Intelligence and Operations Center),"  a policeman had said in a voice message from a hiding place.        

"Tell them that we've been ambushed and that we need backup now". "There are people throwing rocks and molotov cocktails at us,"

indicated the police officer, in great danger. "We are still resisting, but we need reinforcement now," the police agent shouted.

A spokesman for the Haitian National Police Union (known as SYNAPOHA), Lionel Lazare, said at least 50 policemen have been shot dead, since the beginning of the year. The police commissioner, in charge of the police academy, Harington Rigaud, was among the deadly victims.

Rigaud, 50, was shot in the head, outside his office, on Nov. 25. The case is now being investigated. The victim's vehicle was taken away by the criminals.

Lazare called on the government and the police high command to "urgently take appropriate measures to make sure the perpetrators are brought to justice and to ensure the safety and well-being of all police officers."

Crisla and several other gang leaders have been the subject of  wanted notices or arrest warrants, but police officers have not been able to execute them because they would not dare step foot into such dangerous slums.Haiti wanted Gangsters Hijack Armored Vehicles In Surprise Attack On Police

By Joseph Guyler C. Delva

Friday, Dec. 2, 2022

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (HCNN)- Mighty Haiti gangsters have hijacked at least 3 police vehicles, including 2 armored, amid a wave of gang violence that does not even spare the Caribbean country's police force, counting dozens of victims in their ranks, police sources say.

A high-ranking police officer told HCNN that a police armored vehicle

was seized, on the night of Oct. 12 to 13, 2022, by armed bandits controlling the Martissant slum area in the capital Port-au-Prince.

"An armored vehicle and several police weapons were hijacked and are still in the hands of the crimimals who are still using them to fight rival gangs," the police commissioner, speaking on condition of anonymity, told HCNN on Friday.

"As a police commissioner, I feel embarrassed and guilty, because I am among those who are supposed to make sure that gang violence is quelled and that security is guaranted," confessed the police commisioner, revealing that he

often thinks about the need to resign but many of his friends and allies have advised him not to.

A Gang leader, known as Crisla (a former policeman), has claimed responsability for the move to seize the police armored vehicle and several weapons.

"My men and I made the move because we had learned that a group of evil people were about to attack the police, so we said we were not going to let that happen," said Crisla in a voice message released on social media.

"Because if that had happened, those guys would have used the police materials to further terrorize the population," stated Crisla, who pretends to be a protector for the people of the areas under his control.

In an early statement after the incidents, the gang leader had promised that they would return everything they took from the police, which they never did.

Crisla has often engaged in fierce and deadly fights with rival gang, led by Ti Lapli, over attempts to expand their respective territories.

Another feared gang - based at Canaan, a makeshift housing community set up after the 2010 earthquake - also seized, on Nov. 12, a police armored vehicle which they had set on fire.

After an exchange of heavy gunfire with the bandits, the police officers decided to flee for their lives.

"We are asking any police officer who would hear this message to alert CRO (Intelligence and Operations Center),"  a policeman had said in a voice message from a hiding place.        

"Tell them that we've been ambushed and that we need backup now". "There are people throwing rocks and molotov cocktails at us,"

indicated the police officer, in great danger. "We are still resisting, but we need reinforcement now," the police agent shouted.

A spokesman for the Haitian National Police Union (known as SYNAPOHA), Lionel Lazare, said at least 50 policemen have been shot dead, since the beginning of the year. The police commissioner, in charge of the police academy, Harington Rigaud, was among the deadly victims.

Rigaud, 50, was shot in the head, outside his office, on Nov. 25. The case is now being investigated. The victim's vehicle was taken away by the criminals.

Lazare called on the government and the police high command to "urgently take appropriate measures to make sure the perpetrators are brought to justice and to ensure the safety and well-being of all police officers."

Crisla and several other gang leaders have been the subject of  wanted notices or arrest warrants, but police officers have not been able to execute them because they would not dare step foot into such dangerous slums.

By Joseph Guyler C. Delva