Wednesday, October 8, 2008

Mexican crime in the news again - and in the US, too!


I've written several times before about the looming crisis in Mexico, with crime spiraling out of control and the Government there seemingly powerless to do anything about it.

Last week, 49 (yes, forty-nine!) murder victims were found on the streets of Tijuana. Some had been beaten and tortured, some beheaded. The deaths are believed to be the result of feuding between rival drug cartels.

Today, we learn that Phoenix, AZ is becoming the "kidnap capital" of the USA, with criminals abducting other criminals - and their families - in an attempt to extort money. Innocent people are being caught up in the violence. Unsurprisingly, criminals from Mexico are involved on both sides.

The criminal underworld in the sun-baked Arizona capital of Phoenix has long enjoyed the hot money profits from illicit smuggling of drugs and people over the border from Mexico.

But now its members are living in fear as they are stalked by kidnappers after their proceeds, authorities say.

Police in the desert city say specialized kidnap rings are snatching suspected criminals and their families from their homes, running them off the roads and even grabbing them at shopping malls in a spiraling spate of abductions.

"Phoenix is ground zero for illegal narcotics smuggling and illegal human smuggling in the United States," said Phil Roberts, a Phoenix Police Department detective.

"There's a lot of illegal cash out there in the valley, and a lot of people want to get their hands on it."

Last year alone, Phoenix police reported 357 extortion-related abductions -- up by nearly half from 2005 -- targeting individuals with ties to Mexican smuggling rings.

In addition, federal Immigration and Customs Enforcement police have also recorded cases of kidnappers snatching illegal immigrant day laborers off the street for ransom.

Agents have also recorded a growing number of "virtual kidnappings," in which abductors cold-call an immigrant's family falsely claiming that they are holding them hostage. The tactic is used frequently Mexico, where abduction is a lucrative and sophisticated industry.

Each year, hundreds of thousands of illegal immigrants are smuggled through Arizona from Mexico, most heading on to join relatives living and working in the shadows in towns and cities across the United States.

The desert state also straddles a furiously trafficked corridor for drugs, especially marijuana, more than 400 tons of which were seized last year by the U.S. Border Patrol alone. Profits from the two crimes amount to billions of dollars.

Police say the kidnappers are most often Mexican criminals, sometimes helped by local street gangs in Phoenix. They single out cash-flush targets from among the drug traffickers and "coyotes" -- as human smugglers are known -- in the criminal community.

Cell members may trail identified targets for a couple of days, looking for the moment to pounce. Others may be asking around, looking for likely victims, often big spenders "who throw their money around" in bars and clubs, Roberts said.

Aside from the smugglers themselves, victims have included their wives, girlfriends and even children. They are often held in darkened rooms where they are routinely beaten, tortured or sexually assaulted to extort a ransom that can range from $50,000 to $1 million.

. . .

In one recent kidnapping, a 14-year-old girl from south Phoenix was mistakenly picked up on the street by a gun-toting snatch squad looking for the daughter of a known drug dealer. The girl was subsequently released by her captors.

"She happened to be standing outside in front of the home ... they grabbed her in broad daylight ... threw her in the vehicle and took off," said Roberts.

"Here is the perfect example of a young girl who has nothing to do with this, her family has nothing to do with this, she just happened to be in the wrong place at the wrong time."


Again, I urge any of my readers who live in states bordering Mexico, or with large Hispanic populations, to be aware of the situation. Crime, violence and social destabilization are spreading north from the border. Things are going to get worse before they get better . . . if they ever get better.

Given our tough economic times, criminals will be widening their net in search of easier money. That makes all of us potential targets.

Peter

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