Police now escorting Amazon River cruises

Police in the Peruvian Amazon are now escorting cruise ships after one ship was robbed by armed thugs twice in nine days. The boat run by Aqua Expeditions was hit twice by pirates who were heavily armed with machine guns and hand grenades.

After the first incident two police officers were stationed on the vessel, but they were quickly over powered at the second robbery by up to nine armed felons in bad weather. The criminals then tied up all 20 tourists on board and stole valuables and money before fleeing amid a shootout with a back up unit of police officers that raced to the scene.

For safety reasons coast guard boats and police vessels will escort the luxury cruises along their entire journey. Additionally officers will again be placed on each ship and a checkpoint will be set up for half way through the cruise itinerary.

“It’s a shame for our country, for the passengers and crew.  This has never happened in any other tourist trip and is a complete surprise for the whole travel sector,” said Francesco Galli Zugaro, the general manager for Aqua Expeditions in Peru.

These two incidents are the first of their kind since the luxury cruises were started in April last year and the tourism board have said that they will do everything possible to make the cruises an incident free trip.