MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Man detained in Buenos Aires after driving a stolen bus, saying it was his dream

The situation came to light when the bus scraped another vehicle belonging to the same company

A man was detained on Sunday in the western part of the Buenos Aires metropolitan area after driving a city bus for several kilometres, having taken it without authorisation from a depot, following the line's regular route and picking up passengers at stops.

The episode began at around 6:30am at the depot operated by Empresa 216 in Pontevedra, in the district of Merlo. According to investigators' reconstruction, the man boarded a vehicle that was parked there and drove it away. He covered Pontevedra and central Morón, two districts of greater Buenos Aires, keeping to the established route and stopping to let passengers board, none of whom noticed anything irregular. He was wearing a shirt bearing the company logo.

The situation came to light when the bus scraped another vehicle belonging to the same company. Its driver alerted colleagues and, once it was confirmed the unit had left the depot without its assigned driver, a union representative filed a theft report at the police station.

A patrol car located the bus in southern Morón. An officer from the fourth precinct of Gervasio Pavón went to a stop a few metres from the station, raised his arm as though he were a passenger and, when the vehicle stopped, boarded, identified himself and told the driver he was under arrest.

The case is being handled by Prosecutor's Office No. 2 in Morón, headed by Fernando Capello, which ordered a psychiatric evaluation of the detainee to determine whether he is fit to face charges. On being detained, the man said: “I wanted to fulfil my dream of being a bus driver.” According to the newspaper Perfil, officers seized a knife from him. No injuries have been reported.

The bus sustained bodywork damage as a result of the collision and was handed to the company for repairs before returning to service. The detainee has not been publicly identified and has not been convicted.

Urban bus lines, known locally as colectivos, are the main form of transport in greater Buenos Aires, a metropolitan area of around ten million people surrounding the Argentine capital. The route the man covered extended for more than eleven kilometres, according to some local reports.