To be completely honest, friends, I didn’t see this coming—probably a result of shedding the paranoia that nearly all Venezuelans wear like a second skin. I thought I was safe in central London. That was until Monday morning, when some thugs, likely sent by chavismo and/or their associated boligarcs, burst into my apartment and stole my laptops. They didn’t take my wallet, money, or valuables… In fact, they even left one of their own waterproof jackets and a mobile phone behind. Honestly, I’m not sure whether to laugh or cry about it. On one hand, I have to admire the audacity of the men who carried out this act. I’ve used the plural purposefully, since CCTV evidence shows at least three men, clearly not residents of my building, trying to access it. None of them bothered to cover their faces. In fact, one spoke to the doorman and attempted to force his way in through the main door on three separate occasions, while another stood nearby, laughing at the doorman. I have to interpret their boldness as wanting to send a clear message: “We came into your apartment, broke in broad daylight, and we don’t care about being caught on video or seen at all.”
Another part of me is convinced this was definitely the work of chavistas. Only chavistas would break into an apartment to steal laptops with sensitive information and leave so much evidence behind, including their own phone. This reminds me of the typical Venezuelan “Rambos” that make up the “intelligence” forces in that country: smash first and never worry about the details. Tough-guy attitude, if you will. But then, if they could do that, it’s evident they are prepared to do anything, even resurrect a defunct British intelligence agency (MI-16) and “report” that “my house was raided on Wednesday” (which would be 48 hours after the fact).
My interpretation of events after two days is this: thug #1 manages to sneak in when someone exits the building. He then heads up to the upper floors through the elevator until reaching the stairs. He goes down the stairs and opens the fire exit door for thug #2. Both were carrying backpacks. One or both of them then wait on the stairs until I leave my floor (I was home when the first one entered the building). Thug #3, wearing running clothes, tips them off when he sees me leaving the building. They force the door lock with a screwdriver and enter my flat. But then something must have alerted them. Footage approximately an hour later shows thug #1 outside the main door, presumably calling thug #2, who is inside my apartment. He tries three times to get in but fails. He calls different floors, alerting various neighbors. At one point, he even speaks to the doorman, saying in broken English that he has an appointment with “John” in the apartment next to mine. At that moment, the doorman got suspicious. So thug #3 also tested the main door once and failed. They left with exactly what they came for, nothing more.
I returned from a run to find the doormat out of place, and when I looked at the lock, I noticed it had been forced. I went to the doorman’s office and reported it to the police. Then the doorman showed me footage of what happened outside the main door. When I entered the apartment with the police, I noticed beside the door thug #2’s waterproof jacket. The police officer picked it up and found a mobile phone inside. He showed me some text messages in Spanish, like “I’m on the stairs” and “call me when you’re ready.” The log showed several different mobile phone numbers.
They only took the computers, suggesting their order was to “bring the laptops.” It shows a level of discipline on one hand, and a complete lack of common sense on the other. Like foot soldiers. They took the laptops but didn’t take the backup servers staring right at them (don’t worry about coming back, guys, my stuff is backed up—long before you came— in places you’ll never reach). They took the laptops, but left my phone, wallet, passports, documents, etc. So what to make of that? They spent about an hour here, which would’ve given them plenty of time to plant bugs in the place. However, I haven’t found any evidence of this, and a proper professional sweep will be conducted in the coming days. What’s going to happen now is this: I’m going to make “the three stooges” instant online celebrities:
Next, I’m going to appeal, both publicly and privately, to my fellow bloggers, investigative journalists, law enforcement colleagues, contacts around the world, and anyone else I can recruit, to help me get to the bottom of this. If they don’t kill me first—which is a definite possibility given what’s happened—I’m going to make it my short, medium, and long-term personal goal to expose anyone foolish enough to hire such a incompetent group of half-wits to do this.
UPDATE 14/21/2014: Besides the burglary of my apartment on Monday, this morning I found four printed copies of recent photographs of my children and me, presumably taken from quite a distance, as we went about our lives in central London. The printed copies were left inside the pocket of one of my coats in my bedroom.
This new development leads me to believe they weren’t after the laptops; that was just a bonus. I take those photos as an open threat, to my children and to me. I see those photos as a form of terrorism. The message is clear: whoever is behind this wants me to know that my family may be harmed at their will.
I will take this as I interpret it. Yesterday, I posted pictures of the three suspects (SEE ABOVE). Given the publication of certain “reports” in a chavista rag in Venezuela (primicias24.com), I believe I have a good idea of who is behind this. The Metropolitan Police of London has been informed.
Just last Tuesday, I was at the Offshore Alert conference here in London, listening to Bill Browder explain how Sergei Magnitsky made the effort to document everything the Russian state did to him up to his premature death. This eventually led to the Magnitsky Act. Inspired by him, I will attempt to do the same: I will keep a public record of what’s happening, and should my family or I perish, the interested parties in the future, like Bill Browder, will hopefully take an interest, and the Venezuelan culprits will face the consequences of their actions.