Mexican drug gang turns to kidnapping in U.S.

[LongShot]

Mexican drug gang turns to kidnapping in U.S.
Tue Aug 12, 2008 6:34pm EDT
By Lizbeth Diaz

TIJUANA, Mexico (*******) - American businesswoman Veronica was stepping out of her car in California when two men forced her into the passenger seat at gunpoint, pushed her teenage daughter into the back and drove them into Mexico.

Taking advantage of lax Mexican security at the San Diego border, and with U.S. authorities focused mainly on those entering the United States, the kidnappers took the two women to Tijuana in January and held them for a month before their family paid a $100,000 ransom.

"We got an automatic green light to go through Mexican customs and then we were blindfolded and taken to a house in Tijuana. They held a pistol to my stomach all the time we were in the car," said Veronica, who declined to give her surname.

An unintended consequence of Mexican efforts to weaken drug gangs, drug traffickers around Tijuana are turning to abducting U.S. citizens and residents in southern California and holding them in Mexico as a new way to get funds, U.S. and Mexican authorities say.

Mexican intelligence officials say Veronica is one of around 30 Americans abducted in southern California and taken to Tijuana since last November. Many of the victims are of Hispanic origin and hold double nationality.

"Transnational kidnappings are a new way of operating for these criminal groups, mainly in California, and so we are seeking collaboration with the United States," Baja California state Attorney General Rommel Moreno told *******.

The FBI in San Diego says it is investigating 16 cases of U.S. residents kidnapped and held in Tijuana between October last year and May, including some who were abducted in San Diego County.

Wealthy Mexicans have fled Tijuana since 2006 to live in San Diego's plush suburbs and escape violence that has engulfed the city as drug gangs kill rivals, police and even children.

More than 200 people have been kidnapped in Baja California state so far this year, a third more than in all of 2007, according to Mexican kidnap victims' association Esperanza.

Mexicans are outraged at the recent kidnapping and murder of the 14-year-old son of a wealthy businessman in Mexico City.

Kidnapping has for long been a major security problem in Mexico but the cross-border seizures are relatively new.

In June, the FBI arrested the leader of a Mexican kidnapping and drug trafficking ring in San Diego. Security firms in San Diego County who offer protection, consultancy and technology to avoid kidnappings say business is growing.

CALIFORNIA AND TEXAS

"We have seen an increase in the number of kidnappings of U.S. citizens in Tijuana, including cross-border abductions," said FBI special agent Darrell Foxworth in San Diego.

Several Americans have also been kidnapped in Texas this year and held for ransom in Mexico, the FBI said.

Mexican officials say the Arellano Felix drug cartel in Tijuana is turning more to kidnapping after being weakened by battles with rival drug gangs and the arrest of its top leaders.

Mexican President Felipe Calderon has made the drugs war one of his main policies since taking office in late 2006. But the violence has intensified with around 2,000 people murdered so far this year and even the weakened gangs are still active.

"The break-up of the Arellano Felix organization has not been as complete as we would have wished ... they have moved into other activities such as kidnapping," Mexico's Attorney General Eduardo Medina Mora said in a recent trip to Tijuana.

Police suspect the Arellano Felix clan is conducting cross-border abductions because so many wealthy Mexicans have left Tijuana and those who remain have heavy security.

Most of the abductions are done in daylight, with the kidnappers using the victim's car and threatening the victim with a hidden pistol, Mexican police and Esperanza say.

A spokesman for U.S. Customs and Border Protection in San Diego said the agency does not have the resources to carry out southbound checks, although agents do make periodic, surprise revisions.

Mexican customs officials only check about 5 percent of vehicles entering by road into Tijuana and blame a lack of funds for the lightly-manned border posts, said a Baja California state official, who declined to be named.

(Writing and additional reporting by Robin Emmott; Editing by Kieran Murray)



Source.................. (http://www.*******.com/article/domesticNews/idUSN1250256620080812)

[Semeru]

They're either getting bolder or really desperate, I'm feeling too ambiguous to assert an opinion as to which one it is.

[JJB1970]

Wow. I thought I had heard it all with the U.S.-Mexico border activity. I wonder how long this has been going on. This can't be a new development--or is it?

[jupiter]

You need to be very careful around the border, any side of it. And things going to be worse.

[Ordie]

They're either getting bolder or really desperate, I'm feeling too ambiguous to assert an opinion as to which one it is.

Desparate.

The Colombians and Americans are interrupting the flow of cocaine to the point that the cartels are using makeshift subs.

The US Border enforcement are creating fewer routes for both "Coyotes" and "Narcos".

The Calderon Administration crackdown is providing little or no space for the narcos to move around.

The narcos are going organic and setting up chemical based drugs in the US independant from any sources from the south. They are also setting up pot farms in the US.

Kidnapping in the US is not a popular means of obtaining cash rewards. Simply because the US Law enforcement takes adbuctions very seriously, are very public, and have dedicated resources. In Latin America, where the institutions lack the resources and people are more willing to pay quietly.

The weak link. US into Mexico monitoring through official crossings. Need to set up a comprehensive bi-lateral law enforcement intelligence office, and comunication between respective border agencies. Setting up Mexican Law Enforcement bureaus in the US may be called for as in the case with the FBI and DEA in Mexico.

Comprehensive joint checkpoints between the California Highway Patrol and Mexican Police at the border crossing should be considered at San Isidro. Even though may cause a rough commute on I-5.

[AOCBravo2004]

This is why my family and I don't travel to Mexico anymore. We just communicate with family over the phone or via email. It has been over 5 years since I've been to Mexico and I am only about 60 miles away from the border.

[Ordie]

This is why my family and I don't travel to Mexico anymore. We just communicate with family over the phone or via email. It has been over 5 years since I've been to Mexico and I am only about 60 miles away from the border.

Same here.

But I would consider "flying over" to Cancun or Puerto Vallarta at an exclusive resort.

[Felix U. Gómez]

I have a suspicion that these kidnappings, along with the large increment of them on the Mexican side of the border, are part of a strategy being promoted by the drug cartels in order to force the Mexican federal government to divert resources from the drug war to combat kidnapping rings.
Recently, a high profile kidnapping in Mexico City resulting in the murder of the victim has prompted the Mexican government to do just that, though I think that the war on the cartels will continue with even more intensity. The Mexican government has announced the creation of five 24 hour national anti-kidnapping centers manned by by 300 agents each. Hopefully, this will help put a lot of these scumbags behind bars.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20080811-1523-mexico-kidnapping.html
President Calderon last week also sent some modifications to his anti-crime proposal to Congress (which he originally sent back in the first half of 2007). His modifications include much more stiffer punishments for kidnappers, especially those that hurt, main, or kill their victims. Those that kidnap children or the handicap would also get stiffer punishments. Policemen or ex-policemen who participate in kidnappings would also get it. Here's a google translation from La Crónica de Hoy today:

He suggested the executive 70 years to life imprisonment for kidnappers
By: AP | National

Wednesday August 13, 2008 | Published Time: 09:28
The Standing Committee of Congress gave formal entry to the initiative of reforms that sent the Federal Executive to punish with life imprisonment for kidnappers who are or have been policemen or kill their victims.

The Executive said that although there are some who believe that life imprisonment is inhumane, the penalty "does not alter the nature of imprisonment, but only extends his term" to ensure that whoever maimed or deprived of their lives can not plagiarized leave off.

In addition reintegration of offenders is not the ultimate purpose of punishment, since before the most serious forms of kidnapping "the key element is that society and the victim have the assurance that no longer criminal."

According to the presidential proposal that Turner was the Chamber of Deputies, those convicted of kidnapping do not apply the benefits prescribed by law enforcement of criminal sanctions.

So it intends to reform Article 25 of the Federal Penal Code to increase to 70 years the maximum prison sentence, which today is 60, set as the limit and life imprisonment.

The reforms to Article 366 of the Code impose penalties ranging from 40 years' imprisonment to life imprisonment for kidnappers who removed the victim's life.

There will also be 30 years' imprisonment to life imprisonment and four thousand to eight thousand days' fine if the kidnappers are or were members of any institution of public security or hold them as such.

The same penalty applies to those who harm or abduct their victims to under 18 years of age or people who "are in physical or mental inferiority over who runs the deprivation of liberty."

However, if criminals spontaneously release kidnapped in the three days of deprivation of liberty without achieving its objective is punished by four to eight years in prison and 100 to 300 days' fine.

If plagiarism is released spontaneously without those responsible have obtained the money it requested the penalty is seven to 20 years in prison and 350 to 700 days' fine.

Among other points, also imposed 25 years' imprisonment to life imprisonment when the deprivation of liberty is made to move a minor 18 years outside the country to "obtain an improper financial gain from the sale or delivery."

Similarly will be implemented in 15 to 40 years imprisonment for those who plagiarized people for ransom, take them as hostages and threaten to deprive them of life or harm.

The same penalty will be for those who cause harm to kidnapped or make a cappuccino plagiarism, regardless of any other sanctions that apply for other offences.

AGI

http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=378518

Let us hope that Mexico's childish opposition can allow these reforms to pass quickly.

P.S. I hate google translations, form example: cappuccino plagiarism, rofl, the original article says "secuestro express", meaning an express kidnapping, whereby a person is taken on the street and is driven around different ATM's and stores until his/her bank ATM cards and/or credit cards are exhausted.

I declare myself not responsible for the mistakes committed by google.

[Airgun_Hunter]

Desparate.

The Colombians and Americans are interrupting the flow of cocaine to the point that the cartels are using makeshift subs.

The US Border enforcement are creating fewer routes for both "Coyotes" and "Narcos".

The Calderon Administration crackdown is providing little or no space for the narcos to move around.

The narcos are going organic and setting up chemical based drugs in the US independant from any sources from the south. They are also setting up pot farms in the US.

Kidnapping in the US is not a popular means of obtaining cash rewards. Simply because the US Law enforcement takes adbuctions very seriously, are very public, and have dedicated resources. In Latin America, where the institutions lack the resources and people are more willing to pay quietly.

The weak link. US into Mexico monitoring through official crossings. Need to set up a comprehensive bi-lateral law enforcement intelligence office, and comunication between respective border agencies. Setting up Mexican Law Enforcement bureaus in the US may be called for as in the case with the FBI and DEA in Mexico.

Comprehensive joint checkpoints between the California Highway Patrol and Mexican Police at the border crossing should be considered at San Isidro. Even though may cause a rough commute on I-5.

Those poor bastards Narcos are desperate.

Since General Aponte Polito's been in charge he was seized humongous ammounts of drugs, weapons and money from them criminals.

I REALLY hope the US law enforcement catches those SOB's and sends them directly to the electric chair. Or why waste electricity? Just a good hit with a baseball bat to the back of the head and problem solved.

[Laworkerbee]

This was bound to start happening, well to do Mexicans have been moving to San Diego in droves because of the fear of kidnappings.

[LongShot]

Private security is huge down there....before Iraq, it was one of the main PSD games in town....You can hardly go anywhere in Mexico city without seeing some sort of PSD detail and the level of security professionalism and aggressive posturing is on the rise.

[BugHunt]

The only upside on this story is at least it shows the government efforts on both sides of the border seem to be having a degree of effect on the narcos...

[AOCBravo2004]

I REALLY hope the US law enforcement catches those SOB's and sends them directly to the electric chair. Or why waste electricity? Just a good hit with a baseball bat to the back of the head and problem solved.

That would never happen, the Mexican government would be in an uproar over the use of the death penalty :)

[Airgun_Hunter]

That would never happen, the Mexican government would be in an uproar over the use of the death penalty :)


You can say that again m8,

Remember the Mexican that was just executed a few weeks ago in Texas?

The Mex government and an international Human RIghts comitee or something like that were asking the US Govt. to STOP the execution.

That SOB raped and murdered a 16 y/o girl for christ sake!!! :bash:

All that kind of scum shouldn't wait more than 1 year to meet satan.

I wonder if he had raped/murdered a daughter or son of one of those human right (INhuman rights) people they would feel the same about that POS that should be burning in HE11 right now. :bash:

[Mr.Armageddon]

Another reason to increase border security on both sides. Too bad with the state of the US economy and the lack of funds and corruption in Mexico it probably isn't going to happen any time soon.

[JJB1970]

Thanks for your insight, folks. I hadn't heard of the kidnapping incidents on this side of the border. Although, gang murders are carried out over on this side of the border frequently with the hitmen going back and forth across the border.

[Thom]

This is why my family and I don't travel to Mexico anymore. We just communicate with family over the phone or via email. It has been over 5 years since I've been to Mexico and I am only about 60 miles away from the border.

Looks like you can't go to California now as well!


Don't you need a passport to get into mexico? or did they have theirs with them?

I'm surprised in a way about US customs not monitoring things more closely, as i've heard they're incredibly tight. Although I guess it is on the outbound and not as big a deal in the majority of cases.

[AOCBravo2004]

Looks like you can't go to California now as well!

I have no need to go to Kalifornia :)

[indiana46767]

For those that question if the drug war south of the border affects us in the US, there is your answer. The thing with the narcos is that sometimes they have their own families living in the US border towns because its safer than having them live in mexico. SO, where do you think that the adversaries are going to go when they need to hit their families? The US.

[jupiter]

This is why my family and I don't travel to Mexico anymore. We just communicate with family over the phone or via email. It has been over 5 years since I've been to Mexico and I am only about 60 miles away from the border.
Just keeping a low profile and you can do pretty well. But if someone try to impress relatives with a good Hummer or a Escalade, well, that makes a target for the kidnappers.

[indiana46767]

Just keeping a low profile and you can do pretty well. But if someone try to impress relatives with a good Hummer or a Escalade, well, that makes a target for the kidnappers.

Very true. Keepin a low profile is the best way to avoid problems like that.

[jupiter]

I have a suspicion that these kidnappings, along with the large increment of them on the Mexican side of the border, are part of a strategy being promoted by the drug cartels in order to force the Mexican federal government to divert resources from the drug war to combat kidnapping rings.
Recently, a high profile kidnapping in Mexico City resulting in the murder of the victim has prompted the Mexican government to do just that, though I think that the war on the cartels will continue with even more intensity. The Mexican government has announced the creation of five 24 hour national anti-kidnapping centers manned by by 300 agents each. Hopefully, this will help put a lot of these scumbags behind bars.
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/mexico/20080811-1523-mexico-kidnapping.html
President Calderon last week also sent some modifications to his anti-crime proposal to Congress (which he originally sent back in the first half of 2007). His modifications include much more stiffer punishments for kidnappers, especially those that hurt, main, or kill their victims. Those that kidnap children or the handicap would also get stiffer punishments. Policemen or ex-policemen who participate in kidnappings would also get it. Here's a google translation from La Crónica de Hoy today:

He suggested the executive 70 years to life imprisonment for kidnappers
By: AP | National

Wednesday August 13, 2008 | Published Time: 09:28
The Standing Committee of Congress gave formal entry to the initiative of reforms that sent the Federal Executive to punish with life imprisonment for kidnappers who are or have been policemen or kill their victims.

The Executive said that although there are some who believe that life imprisonment is inhumane, the penalty "does not alter the nature of imprisonment, but only extends his term" to ensure that whoever maimed or deprived of their lives can not plagiarized leave off.

In addition reintegration of offenders is not the ultimate purpose of punishment, since before the most serious forms of kidnapping "the key element is that society and the victim have the assurance that no longer criminal."

According to the presidential proposal that Turner was the Chamber of Deputies, those convicted of kidnapping do not apply the benefits prescribed by law enforcement of criminal sanctions.

So it intends to reform Article 25 of the Federal Penal Code to increase to 70 years the maximum prison sentence, which today is 60, set as the limit and life imprisonment.

The reforms to Article 366 of the Code impose penalties ranging from 40 years' imprisonment to life imprisonment for kidnappers who removed the victim's life.

There will also be 30 years' imprisonment to life imprisonment and four thousand to eight thousand days' fine if the kidnappers are or were members of any institution of public security or hold them as such.

The same penalty applies to those who harm or abduct their victims to under 18 years of age or people who "are in physical or mental inferiority over who runs the deprivation of liberty."

However, if criminals spontaneously release kidnapped in the three days of deprivation of liberty without achieving its objective is punished by four to eight years in prison and 100 to 300 days' fine.

If plagiarism is released spontaneously without those responsible have obtained the money it requested the penalty is seven to 20 years in prison and 350 to 700 days' fine.

Among other points, also imposed 25 years' imprisonment to life imprisonment when the deprivation of liberty is made to move a minor 18 years outside the country to "obtain an improper financial gain from the sale or delivery."

Similarly will be implemented in 15 to 40 years imprisonment for those who plagiarized people for ransom, take them as hostages and threaten to deprive them of life or harm.

The same penalty will be for those who cause harm to kidnapped or make a cappuccino plagiarism, regardless of any other sanctions that apply for other offences.

AGI

http://www.cronica.com.mx/nota.php?id_nota=378518

Let us hope that Mexico's childish opposition can allow these reforms to pass quickly.

P.S. I hate google translations, form example: cappuccino plagiarism, rofl, the original article says "secuestro express", meaning an express kidnapping, whereby a person is taken on the street and is driven around different ATM's and stores until his/her bank ATM cards and/or credit cards are exhausted.

I declare myself not responsible for the mistakes committed by google.
Considered not guiltyp-)

[Hot Lips]

I feel for them, but I think keeping our guys monitoring the what's incoming is more pressing than what's outgoing.