Public roads taken by phenomena of robberies to trucks with food

Assaults on trucks with loads of food on public roads, carried out by citizens in broad daylight, a reality that can be seen in several provinces of the country, leave the Police without action. A sociologist points to poverty and hunger as the main causes of the «phenomenon».

In recent times, videos have been frequently shared on social networks, in which people appear as protagonists of a criminal action on public roads, which seems to be becoming fashionable: these are assaults on trucks transporting food goods, when these break down or get involved in accidents. The "phenomenon", although not new, has been gaining strength in several areas of the country. One of the episodes that went viral happened in September, in the city of Lobito, in Benguela, when several citizens looted a truck with several tons of rice, after it was involved in an accident. Another video, also circulated on social media, shows several teenagers and young people in Cabinda province looting bags of rice and drums of oil from a truck, broken down on the public road.

In the land of red acacias, the constant assaults on truck drivers on the Lobito-Catumbela section have worried the authorities and owners of the material, so the Provincial Government is studying mechanisms to restore security to service users. One of the solutions found in that province, as Novo Jornal learned, was, for example, the deployment of police patrols on the main roads.

The country's capital did not escape the phenomenon. Recently, a truck carrying sacks of rice was looted by people in the FTU area. Still in the capital, at Estalagem, in Viana, a van carrying drinks was also looted after an accident. Not even the presence of the police calmed the enthusiasm of the population who, in the middle of the road, risked their lives, all for a crate of beer or a bottle of water. Men, women, young people and even children were not inhibited by the shots fired by the soldiers who were trying to chase them away.