Robbers target flowing locks

A GROUP of Venezuelan thieves that calls itself “The Piranhas” has turned its attention away from purses and handbags — and holds women at gunpoint to steal their hair.

In Maracaibo, Venezuela’s second-largest city, the gang is targeting women whose flowing locks, once removed, can be made into natural hair extensions and sold to beauty salons.

The robbers threaten their victims with firearms and order them to tie their hair into a ponytail, before removing it with a razor blade. Top-quality stolen hair can fetch the equivalent of £200 (about R3 000).

“The demand for hair extensions has risen by 30% since the crimes started,” said Jonathan Morales, a beauty salon owner who spoke to state television channel Globovision.

“The market is more competitive now. We judge the hair on its tone, condition and colour,” he said. “But my salon doesn’t buy from street vendors because we don’t know where the hair has come from.”

A victim of the gang, Mariana Rodriguez, said: “When they came up to me, I thought they were going to take my phone. But before I had time to think they were gone, and I had no hair.”

The city’s response has been to position guards in the shopping centres where the crimes have been most prevalent.

“We are responding with force to these escalating crimes,” said Maracaibo’s mayor, Aveling de Rosales.

“However, we recommend that women avoid wearing their hair down in public places because it facilitates the theft.”

Maracaibo, a city of four million close to the Colombian border, is particularly prone to gang crime given the large amount of smuggling that occurs in the area.