“5 segonn” gang Kidnap 38 Passengers on Minibuses

The “5 segonn” gang on Friday kidnapped 38 people as they were riding in minibuses out of Port-au-Prince, bound for Miragone.

“Two buses had just been filled with passengers bound for Miragoane," a town some 62 miles (100 kilometers) west of Port-au-Prince, “when the guys from Village de Dieu seized them," said Mehu Changeux, president of the association of owners and drivers of Haiti, referring to one of the capital’s slums controlled by a powerful gang.

“Each bus had 18 people, in addition to the drivers," Changeux said, without saying if ransoms had been demanded.

The mass kidnapping came as Haiti found itself in the grip of armed gangs, whom police have failed to confront.