A police officer quickly shuts down an auto companies store in Bogotá, Colombia, June 26, saying his enterprise allow and different paperwork have been old-fashioned. Authorities are concentrating on tire-repair retailers that motorists have flagged for his or her suspected collaboration with pinchallantas, or tire-puncturers.
John Otis for NPR
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John Otis for NPR
BOGOTÁ, Colombia — Getting a flat tire is irritating, however within the Colombian capital of Bogotá, it may be much more maddening as a result of it’s continuously the work of saboteurs.
Aboard bikes, these vandals unfold sharp objects on busy streets to wreck automobile tires. Then, they provide to steer marooned motorists to close by mechanics who’re suspected of being in on the rip-off, allegedly making extra holes within the tires after which overcharging for repairs.
These flimflam males are referred to as pinchallantas, Spanish for “tire-puncturers.”
“They did it to me,” says Óscar Villanueva a Bogotá architect. “A guy on a motorcycle came up to me and said: ‘Your tire is low on air. You need to get it patched.’ But he was the one who made the holes.”
Pinchallantas have perfected the follow. Movies on social media present them weaving via site visitors on bikes with sharp objects hooked up to their ankles that they launch by stomping the pavement in entrance of vehicles.
An embedded nail normally creates a sluggish leak in a tire which will take hours to go flat. So, they typically litter the roads with sharp, tube-shaped items of steel that trigger tires to deflate instantly.
Bogotá lawyer Felipe Gallo says that as a result of frazzled motorists are normally anxious for a fast repair to allow them to get again on the street, they’re simply suckered into overpaying.
“When they fix the tire, they make more holes and then they say to you: ‘Hey, you have four holes,'” says Gallo, who paid about $150 for a latest restore job. “For that price, I could have bought new tires.”
Cops quickly shut down a tire-repair store in Bogotá, Colombia, on June 26.
John Otis for NPR
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John Otis for NPR
Pinchallantas have plagued Bogotá for years. However not too long ago there was a surge of citizen complaints in regards to the follow, typically numbering greater than 100 monthly. Reviews about pinchallantas have change into a staple of TV newscasts, which additionally warn motorists about hassle spots in Bogotá.
Bogotá officers and police have launched a crackdown, however as a result of the con males transfer quick, it is arduous to catch them within the act of puncturing tires. As an alternative, authorities are concentrating on tire-repair retailers that motorists have flagged for his or her suspected collaboration with pinchallantas.
Throughout one latest raid, the store proprietor received right into a heated debate with cops, and denied any wrongdoing. The police quickly closed him down, saying his enterprise allow and different paperwork have been old-fashioned.
Sabotaging motorists with the intention to patch their tires might looks as if a convoluted solution to strike it wealthy. However reasonably than one massive payoff, Bogotá safety official Juliana Sáenz says that unscrupulous mechanics depend on a gentle stream of victims. She says they could repair 30 or so flat tires per day, which might add as much as tons of of {dollars}.
Gallo, the lawyer, factors out that Colombian swindlers are at all times developing with outlandish methods to shake individuals down. He says: “People have a lot of imagination.”
