San Ysidro

Police are still searching for a van that was stolen Tuesday night in San Ysidro by a gang of 14 or 15 men who chased the driver and abducted his wife who was in the vehicle. The 1972 red Chevrolet van was last seen heading toward northbound Interstate 5 and was believed to be headed toward Los Angeles, police spokesman Bill Robinson said.

The van’s owner, Antonio Medina, 39, told police he and his wife, Patricia Volos, 24, had just entered the van after walking across the border when the incident occured. The El Monte couple had spent the day in Tijuana and returned at 8 p.m. to the van, which was parked on a bridge in the 4400 block of Camino de la Plaza, Robinson said.

Medina told police that the group of men, all Latinos in their 30s and 40s, rushed the van in which he and his wife were sitting with the doors locked and the engine running. A man smashed the van’s passenger window and struck Volos with the butt of a handgun, knocking her unconscious, Robinson said. Medina said he fled the van and ran to the Police Department’s San Ysidro substation to report the attack.

Police believe the men may have been illegal aliens led by a coyote , or smuggler, though they could not confirm this from the information provided by Medina.