Policemen patrol near a burning bus after it was set on fire near the area recently occupied by squatters in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil on April 11, 2014. (File photo)
Heavily armed men stormed a Sao Paulo bus depot on Tuesday, setting some three dozen buses on fire in an attack police believed, was linked to organized crime.
At least six gunmen stormed the depot of the private bus company, completely destroying 23 vehicles and badly damaging 11 others in the town of Osasco, some 25 kilometers (16 miles) outside Sao Paulo.
"They were all heavily armed. They took some employees hostage," said Miguel De Albuquerque, manager of the company, speaking to the Globo G1 news site.
"Two of the criminals, who appeared to be minors, poured oil on the buses. Since that was taking a lot of time, the others made two of our employees help them," said De Albuquerque.
Police said the attack was likely an act of revenge following the death late Monday of a drug trafficker, in an area with a flourishing and fiercely competitive narcotic trade.
Bus burning has become an increasingly common act of protest among some groups. TV Globo reported that 364 buses have been attacked since the beginning of the year in Sao Paulo and its suburbs, of which 115 were set ablaze.
In the past few days alone, there have been bus burnings in protest against water shortages that have hit some neighborhoods in this city of some 12 million inhabitants.
Motives for the bus burnings range from tit-for-tat drug turf battles to outrage over a long-running police operations to rid favelas of criminal elements.