3 of 4 Arrested in Bus Hijacking Identified as Gang Members

Three of four suspects arrested for allegedly hijacking a Las Vegas-bound tour bus and robbing its passengers of at least $20,000 are members of Red Door, a violent San Gabriel Valley-based gang, authorities said Monday.

The suspects sport tattoos that indicate their membership in the group responsible for extortion, follow-home robberies and at least one murder, investigators said.

The suspects are three men and a juvenile. Three of them have confessed to the crime, the first of its kind in Los Angeles County, said Sheriff’s Capt. Ron Black.

Authorities recovered two 9-millimeter semiautomatic handguns, $660 in cash, clothes and an unknown amount of Chinese currency. Investigators are looking for a fifth suspect, a woman believed to be holding most of the money.

No one was hurt in the hijacking, and the bus continued to Las Vegas, where one of the passengers won $5,000, Black said.

The bus--carrying visitors from Taiwan and China, as well as local Chinese American residents--was hijacked about 9:30 a.m. Saturday as it stopped in Rowland Heights to pick up passengers.

Three of the suspects, who had tickets for the trip, boarded the bus and robbed all 41 people aboard at gunpoint, passing a satchel down the aisle, authorities said. They ordered the driver to go to Pomona Boulevard in Pomona, where they fled on foot.

One of the suspects, Yen Chiu, 22, of Rancho Cucamonga, was arrested by Pomona police, who had heard about the hijacking on their radio. The others were arrested after police served a search warrant at Chiu’s car detailing business in Pomona. They are Singh Ngyuy, 20, of El Monte, and Houth Tang, 19, and a 17-year-old juvenile, both from Monterey Park.

The men were being held at the Walnut sheriff’s station in lieu of $500,000 bail, while the youth was at Los Padrinos Juvenile Hall.

The tour was organized by Bravo Tours of Monterey Park. Manager Lucas Sung said he would tell future passengers to bring traveler’s checks instead of cash.