Hurricane Odile, which slammed into Mexico’s Baja California as a major Category 4 hurricane, is opening the door for criminals and looters to ransack villages devastated by the storm.
Officials say that 135 people have been injured from the storm, and no one has been killed, but the major problem has been power outages and looting from stores left unprotected in the wake of evacuations.
Police say that looters have appeared to focus on electronic and higher end stores, stealing televisions, stereo equipment and other high event devices. Grocery stores have also been cleaned out with everything taken from Coca-Cola to potato chips to pancake mix.
Over 240,000 residents of the region are without power after most of the utility poles in the region were snapped off by the storm. The Federal Electricity Commission says that 92 percent of the people living in Baja California are without power.
Officials say that without power, it will be very hard to control the looting of vacated homes and businesses.
The 8th Commandment clearly meant little to whoever broke into the safe at Lakewood Church and stole over $600,000 in donations Sunday night.
The Houston, Texas church, home of internationally known pastor Joel Osteen, reported Monday morning that someone had broken into their safe and taken away all the donations received during the weekend’s services.
Cash, checks and credit card information was stolen. The church says that the funds were insured, so the church will not lose revenue, but that there was no way to assure someone would not try to use the stolen account numbers for other kinds of fraud.
Donors were encouraged to check their accounts for fraudulent activity and to take steps to protect their accounts.
Church officials say $200,000 of the theft was in cash.
Houston police are investigating the theft. The police are reviewing surveillance video from inside the church but have not named any suspects.
A truck containing dangerous radioactive material was stolen from a gas station near Mexico City on Monday.
Officials with the International Atomic Energy Agency said Mexican officials informed them of the theft in a statement Wednesday.
The truck contained radioactive cobalt-60 from a hospital in Tijuana that was being transported to a waste disposal site. The IAEA said the material was properly shielded for safety when the truck was stolen but that it’s impossible to know if the thieves have breached that shielding.
“Whoever has or finds the equipment is urged not to open or damage it, as in these cases it can cause severe health problems,” the agency said.
Intelligence officials say that in the wrong hands the material could be used to make a “dirty bomb”.
A massive search is underway in six Mexican states and Mexico City. The white Volkswagen truck has been shown on TV and in newspapers with phone numbers for citizens to call if they spot it.
Six people were arrested and charged Monday for stealing $45 million in a worldwide ATM heist.
The five men and one woman were accused of being members of an international cybercriminal organization that targeted prepaid debit cards issued by Middle Eastern banks. They deleted withdrawal limits from compromised accounts then sent teams of “cashers” to make synchronized withdrawals from ATMs worldwide. The six that were arrested visited over 140 ATMs in New York City and withdrew approximately $2.8 million.
“This case is another example of the ability of cybercriminals to inflict significant damage to world financial systems,” said Steven Hughes, Special Agent in Charge of the United States Secret Service New York field office.
Five of the defendants have pleaded not guilty in federal court. The sixth defendant is expected to be arraigned Tuesday. Each person faces up to 7.5 years in prison and a fine of up to $250,000.
Just five days after Super Typhoon Haiyan ripped through the Philippines, panic is beginning to set in among residents of Tacloban and other destroyed villages.
Eight people were crushed to death when a crowd stormed a rice warehouse near Tacloban. More than 100,000 bags of rice were stolen by the mob before police and military troops were able to quell the riot.
Residents in parts of Tacloban were also digging up underground pipes and smashing them open to find water.
The official death toll continues to climb and stood at 2,275 as of Thursday morning. United Nations workers on the ground are expecting the total to climb significantly despite the Philippine president announcing that only a few thousand likely died in the storm rather than earlier estimates of tens of thousands.
U.S. military personnel have been evacuating people from Tacloban to Manila for medical treatment. Soldiers reported seeing roads with bodies lined up for miles awaiting the government to pick them up for burial.
