Car jackers in Guinea rob a taxi car - Make off with a locked cooler containing Ebola.

[Product Placement]

Some enterprising thieves decided to pull over taxi car, ferrying 9 passengers across a rural parts of Guinea. Among the objects that were stolen were some mobile phones, cash, jewelry and a locked cooler containing blood samples from patients believed to be infected with Ebola. The courier was delivering the samples to a test lab, when he was forced to hand it over to the car jackers who had to fire into the air before he agreed to do so.

It is believed that the robbers thought the locker contained some valuables and will most likely discard the samples, once they realize what they have taken. However, there's the inherent risk of them handling the samples and becoming infected, thus potentially spreading the disease to new areas.

And who said crime doesn't pay?

Sites covering the story:
http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/11/21/health-ebola-guinea-theft-idUSL6N0TB4FU20141121
http://bigstory.ap.org/article/06091073bc014405b1567c36d88f8c65/bandits-guinea-steal-suspected-ebola-blood

P.S. Captcha: Blood type.
Ok... now that thing is just scaring me.

 

[aegix drakan_v1legacy]

WOW. What dumbasses.

I bet they're in for a VERY nasty surprise.

Hopefully they don't spread it.

 

[Jamieson 90]

They're no doubt colossal dicks but even so I don't think I'd wish death by Ebola on anyone, and then there's the whole spreading the disease too. It makes you wonder why there wasn't more security, I mean Ebola is a BSL 4 bio-hazard, surely there should have been more precautions?

 

[Parasondox]

Boy, karma plays some cruel and twisted jokes. Now that's a *****.

 

[TakerFoxx]

I'm actually kind of nervous about this. I doubt they have the resources or the know-how to safely dispose of them, so it's very likely it will end up being spread around even further by this.

 

[Fieldy409_v1legacy]

Score!

It seems like they need to handle this Ebola situation better, like some people are getting infected because of situations they could have handled better, I remember reading about a break out at an ebola clinic when family members who didnt believe the disease existed and that it was a conspiracy attacked the clinic with sticks and broke everyone out.

 

[tilmoph]

My first reaction was "Ha ha ha, fucking dumbasses. Enjoy dying, fucktards!". Then I formed an actual thought; what if these morons spread this crap around? There is literally no chance this brain trust has the first clue how to handle something that potentially deadly. I hope the authorities are trying to track these nimrods; the last ting we need is more Ebola deaths because of these asshats.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

This sounds very familiar...

It looks like a simple carjacking. The whole "don't open this cooler, it's full of ebola" shtick isn't going to be believable to robbers. I bet nothing will come from it.

 

[Queen Michael]

Seems like we've got us a regular Tom Clancy novel here.

 

[Product Placement]

Seems like we've got us a regular Tom Clancy novel here.

For that, we'd have to assume that the Russians are behind this or maybe the Neonazis.

 

[Mezahmay]

This sounds very familiar...

It looks like a simple carjacking. The whole "don't open this cooler, it's full of ebola" shtick isn't going to be believable to robbers. I bet nothing will come from it.

Ah yes, the old "this case is full of ebola" chestnut. I'm no robber, but it's never worked once for me either. Same way my mom never believed "letters from school are full of anthrax" when I was growing up or "checking my internet history caused smallpox".

 

[michael87cn]

so this wasn't driven around with armed guards, but a mere money truck is? We are going to end the world with stupidity, penny pinching, and recklessness. Someday.

 

[Neonit]

so this wasn't driven around with armed guards, but a mere money truck is? We are going to end the world with stupidity, penny pinching, and recklessness. Someday.

My guess is, most people dont think its necessary to have armed guards when moving blood samples. I do think that they could use air support, i mean, they were carrying samples.

In all honesty, because frankly im not sure what regular procedure is in such cases - should it be better protected? I mean im sure that the driver would be happier with an escort, but is it something that happens often?

 

[Scarim Coral]

Boy, karma plays some cruel and twisted jokes. Now that's a *****.

I was going to say karma too but still I do not like the idea that a new Ebola area could had been created thanks to these arses.

 

[CrazyGirl17]

Normally, I'd say these dumbasses deserve whatever they get... but frankly, I'm more worried about another Ebola outbreak. If this doesn't make the case for a Darwin Award, I don't know what is...

 

[GrumbleGrump]

Oh Jesus, I lost my shit for a moment.

I confused Guinea with Papua New Guinea...

 

[Bat Vader]

I know it is terrible to say but if these idiots end up getting Ebola because of this I won't feel any sympathy for them.

 

[Zykon TheLich_v1legacy]

They're no doubt colossal dicks but even so I don't think I'd wish death by Ebola on anyone, and then there's the whole spreading the disease too. It makes you wonder why there wasn't more security, I mean Ebola is a BSL 4 bio-hazard, surely there should have been more precautions?

I'm guessing because Guinea is a dirt poor nation in the middle of an Ebola outbreak. Paying some guy to sit next to them with an AK on the off chance the driver gets jacked is probably not considered an efficient use of funds.

 

[Starbird]

This stuff makes me so glad I don't live in Africa anymore. I remember a friend of my dad's who used to work as an exterminator and (for reasons unknown) had a tagless Sprite bottle full of a chemical used to kill the giant hairy caterpillar clusters we get in the autumn.

He got hijacked. Someone took a sip out of the bottle and wound up in the hospital. He ended up having to pay a fine for not labelling the poison.

 

[Avaholic03]

They're no doubt colossal dicks but even so I don't think I'd wish death by Ebola on anyone, and then there's the whole spreading the disease too. It makes you wonder why there wasn't more security, I mean Ebola is a BSL 4 bio-hazard, surely there should have been more precautions?

I'm guessing because Guinea is a dirt poor nation in the middle of an Ebola outbreak. Paying some guy to sit next to them with an AK on the off chance the driver gets jacked is probably not considered an efficient use of funds.

Exactly this. The fact that they can even afford to transport the blood samples to a lab for testing is only due to tons of outside funds coming in to fight this outbreak. But those funds are limited, and the massive number of tests needed for outlying villages makes guarding every one of them impractical.