THE 2007 Toyota Hiace mini bus which was robbed at gunpoint from a Heart Foundation driver has been found scrapped.

It was apparently a well organised job as by the time the bus was taken early Friday afternoon and when it was recovered later that evening at Trinidad Road in Waterhouse – a tough Kingston community – it was scrapped.

Everything, except it’s tinted windows had been removed from the vehicle. The seats were dislodged and were found inside the vehicle’s shell.

Inspector Lennox Harper of the Hunt’s Bay Police Station told the Observer yesterday that Hiace buses are among vehicle targetted by the criminal underworld for parts.

“We are appealing to owners of Hiace buses to secure them as much as possible because the criminals prey on them, [and] parts are readily sellable,” he said.

“They will use various methods (to steal the vehicles); they will hotwire them or rob them with firearms. We ask them (owners) to be careful at stoplights and when doing business and to ensure that the vehicles are properly secured at nights,” added Harper.

In the meantime, the Heart Foundation of Jamaica has appealed to persons with knowledge about the location of the medical records which were stolen along with the bus to assist the organisation in recovering them. The medical records contained information about persons who did heart screenings at the Sydenham Health Centre on Wednesday, January 10 and Troja Health Centre on Tuesday, January 16.

The Heart Foundation is also asking the persons who participated in the screenings on those days to get in touch with the organisation as soon as possible.

According to the police, on Friday at approximately 1:30 pm the gunmen pounced on the driver along Hagley Park Road and held him at gunpoint before demanding the vehicle and speeding off. The driver was not hurt.

The vehicle was one of two which were donated by a London-based Jamaican charity group, Friends of the Heart Foundation last year.