Peril on the freight line

Cargo theft now happens in Mexico roughly every 50 minutes, turning the country’s major highways into danger zones. — AFP

LATE one Friday night, a truck carrying sound equipment for legendary cumbia band Los Angeles Azules was pulled over on the Mexico-Puebla highway.

The “police” at the checkpoint turned out to be armed robbers. Spotting the valuable cargo, they drew their guns and vanished with the gear, leaving the driver and a passenger by the roadside, shaken and with some hearing damage from a warning shot.