Our Personal Data Processing Policy has changed.Get to know her by clicking here.We have changed our Privacy Policy and Browsing Data Policy.By 'Accept' we consider that you approve the changes.Here you will find your newsCheck your inbox and if not, in your spam folder.We want you to find the news that interests you the mostFollow your favorite topics in a place exclusive to you.Remember that to see your songs on all your devices, you must update the El Tiempo App.We couldn't load your newsTry again later.An exclusive place, where you can follow your favorite topics.choose them!Here you can also find "My News" and follow the topics you chose in the APP.The fastest way to get up to date.An exclusive section where you can follow your songs.Whenever you want, change the themes you chose.I will do it laterYour favorite themes have been saved!The fastest way to get up to date.An exclusive section where you can follow your songs.Whenever you want, change the themes you chose.Hugo Parra.Archive THE TIMEHugo Parra.Archive THE TIMEFind the validation of El Cazamentiras at the end of the news.Register or log in to follow your favorite topics.The puncturers went from being criminals by weight to becoming a whole network of swindlers who not only set traps such as metal straws or screws on the main roads of Bogotá and Cundinamarca, but also act with 'helpers' who take the victims to repair the tires to specific businesses.EL TIEMPO took the task of reviewing one by one the testimonies of dozens of affected people, whose complaints, in general, are always forgotten or archived.(You may be interested: This is how the gang that abused several women on the North highway fell)(To continue reading: Will the new security measures work for Bogotá?)The first thing that can be deduced from the avalanche of complaints is that there are some road corridors where these gangs, it could be said that they are organized, operate: Boyacá Avenue, especially at 53rd Street;Avenida Primero de Mayo with Carrera 30, Calle 80 with Avenida 68;the North highway, north-south direction, in front of the Santafé shopping center, the South highway at the height of Soacha, the 127th street bridge, the NQS, south-north direction, at the height of 76th street;Carrera 7a with Calle 163, western side, and many others (see map).These points cause terror in the citizenry, not only because of the danger of staying in the middle of nowhere, but also because of the enormous bills they charge for fixing the premeditated damage.Pinchallantas in Bogota by Ana Puentes on Scribd(Also: Video: motorcycle thieves rob driver in Nice, north of Bogotá)They have many strategies, but the most innovative at present is that after placing the metallic and sharp devices at specific points, they send an 'angel' that arrives as if by magic to help the anguished drivers.Mónica Carvajal, for example, was a victim between Boyacá Avenue and Carrera 69 with Calle 80, south side.“There is a gang of about nine criminals who spend their time puncturing high-end cars.Then, the owners of the latter are taken by motorcyclists to two tire lifts located in the sector to be attended to.They pierce the tires with a spike several times to get more money, ”he assured.Another affected person says that he experienced this situation arriving at the North portal, a point where several people are usually offering mechanical services.“They take you to a tire iron near Colsubsidio, on 177th Street, and the worst thing is that once you allow them to take your tire, they tell you that it has four holes and each patch is worth 60,000 pesos.”For this citizen, there are already more sophisticated organizations.“It would be worth doing intelligence, punishing those criminals and sealing that business.They operate at 3:30 in the afternoon.The victims describe the cost overruns charged as 'infamous'.(We recommend: Gustavo Petro: why do you say that Bogotá is the least violent city in Colombia?)Carlos Ramírez, who also fell into the trap, analyzed exactly how motorcyclists and cyclists operate at the service of crime.All the work begins, usually, with the removal of the device that caused the damage, and then the helper uses a small compressor that he extracts from the suitcase of his motorcycle with which he tries to inflate the damaged tire so that the vehicle the victim moves to the tire lift indicated by the subject.He invites the citizen to follow him.There operates a gang that consists of a cyclist carrying the whistles on his left foot and walks between the stopped cars“On the site appear, for no reason, other punctures in other tires of the vehicle, and with great skill the same man realizes to the unwary driver that punctures or tire failures require a multitude of patches.Up to 5 for each wheel!, with a final cost that exceeds half a million pesos That is repeated about five times a day”, said Ramírez, who added that they are so organized that they choose high-end vehicles.Several affected say that the crime does not end on the asphalt, but that in the complicit businesses the criminals do the same.Juan Pablo Céspedes said that in a tire lift, located on Boyacá Avenue with 77th Street, they dismantled a tire and told him that they would fix it for 120,000 pesos.“I told him no, just put on the spare tire, but they insisted.As he pulled it out, one of the subjects told me: 'Look, this other tire is too low.'I realized that with a piece of chalk he began to mark it.This one had a blade and that's how they scratch the whole tire.They sarcastically told me: 'Could it be that you have two spare tires to put them on?'”.The impotent citizen had to put patches on the seven holes made with the chalk and pay 230,000 pesos.“I had to buy two new tires.What an unpleasant experience, I was together with my wife and we were coming from a trip.The same thing happened to Albert Godoy when he was going with his family to Ibagué in a Hyundai Santa Fe van and they were going through Soacha, where a tire went flat.Precisely they stayed in front of a tire lifter behind a Terpel service station and requested emergency service.“The rim had a flute-type element.After disassembling and checking it, the mechanic told me that it had eight scratches made with a blade and that the repair cost 150,000 pesos.The guy had a sharp blade between his fingers and took advantage of our carelessness to do the damage.”(Be sure to read: The 8 security requests that Claudia López made to Gustavo Petro)Luis Fredy Niño told this newspaper that in the section between 53rd and 63rd streets on Boyacá Avenue, victims fall daily."There operates a gang that consists of a cyclist carrying the whistles on his left foot and walks between the stopped cars."He chooses high-end vehicles and pretends that he stumbles, crouches down and there he places the dick with a point covered in plasticine."When the vehicle restarts the march, the artifact is embedded."Meters later the drivers are stranded and a cyclist arrives who takes off his jacket and cap and becomes a mechanic.The same story is repeated at the traffic light on Calle 53, heading south-north.This scourge is more serious than it seems, because stranded cars can be hit from behind.It is human lives that may be at risk.“The cyclist has threatened us for taking videos and photos of him.But we have been very alone before these criminals.”(In other news: The glass mega-bridge in the Tequendama Falls no longer works: see the new idea)The disproportionate costs that victims of flat tires have had to pay are, to say the least, infamous.Margarita Becerra recounted that last July 1, going up 80th Street, from west to east, in the middle of the bridge over the NQS, a motorcyclist approached them to tell them they had a flat tire.“We fell into the trap and reached the closest site.“In less than nothing they put ten $65,000 patches on the left front tire and 7 $45,000 patches on the left rear.They also charged us $40,000 for the hydrogen on the four wheels and $20,000 for starting the battery because “coincidently” it didn't work.Everything cost $1,0025,000, and they only receive cash”.Finally, there are those who say that this method is also used to steal cars."An honest man who helped me when I was a victim told me that this modality was also used to steal Toyotas."So far, there has been no response from the Prosecutor's Office with results on this serious problem.CAROL MALAVER carmal@eltiempo.comRegister or log in to follow your favorite topics.*This is not a valid email.*You must accept the Terms, Conditions and Policies.You can now see the latest contents of EL TIEMPO in your inboxYou reached the content limit for the monthEnjoy unlimited content from EL TIEMPO DIGITAL.Sign up now!If you are already a subscriber to the newsletter* COP $900 / month for the first two monthsWe know that you like to always be informed.Create an account and you can enjoy:Create an account and you can enjoy our content from any device.COPYRIGHT © 2022 EL TIEMPO Publishing House NIT.860.001.022-7.Its total or partial reproduction is prohibited, as well as its translation into any language without the written authorization of its owner.ELTIEMPO.com all the main news from Colombia and the World