Spanish tourists robbed by armed ‘river pirates’ in Peruvian Amazon

A tourist says four people holding pistols and a machine gun boarded the boat and forced passengers to drain their bank accounts

A Spanish tourist has recounted how an armed gang calling themselves “river pirates” robbed her and her family aboard a boat travelling down the Amazon River in Peru.

In a video on TikTok, one of the tourists, Elisabet de la Almudena, said she experienced the “worst day of her life” on 14 May, when four armed assailants holding pistols and one machine gun boarded the boat she was travelling on with her parents and six-year-old daughter. She said the gunmen forced them to open banking apps on their phones and empty their accounts.