The killing of three young brothers by kidnappers outraged Venezuelans on Wednesday, with hundreds blocking Caracas' main highways to demand that the government take measures to deal with the rampant crime in the country.

Students and residents took to the streets and gathered around the victims' home to urge President Hugo Chavez's government to deal with crime after police found the bodies of the kidnapped Faddoul brothers and their driver on Tuesday in scrubland 40 km southwest of Caracas.

The boys, John Bryan, Kevin and Jason Faddoul, aged 17, 13 and 12, with dual Canadian-Venezuelan citizenship, were found 48 to 72 hours after their deaths, with shotgun wounds to their heads, still wearing their school uniforms and huddling next to the body of their driver.

The boys and their driver were stopped on their way to school by a group of men dressed in police uniforms on Feb. 23. Their kidnappers had demanded a ransom of 4.65 million U.S. dollars from their family after the abduction.

Justice Minister Jesse Chacon made a statement late Tuesday on the incident, pledging to track down the perpetrators. He also said that authorities had not ruled out the possibility that the kidnappers could have been active police officers.

The Faddoul kidnapping has intensified Venezuelans' concerns about violent crime in the oil-wealthy country, where violent robberies, kidnappings and murders are frequent.

Last week, a 71-year-old Italian-Venezuelan businessman was shot to death after he was kidnapped at a false police roadblock while being driven to work in western Aragua State.

Source: Xinhua