Baja California Crime Statistics Jump
NATIONAL ASSOCIATION OF FORMER BORDER PATROL OFFICERS
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Foreign News Report

La Cronica (Mexicali, Baja Calif.) , Frontera (Tijuana, Baja Calif.) 5/25/08

1) Both front pages feature the increase in criminality in Baja California and compare two equal periods: Nov. 2006 to April 2007 and Nov. 2007 to April 2008. The results:
- Homicides: 228 vs. 327 ( up 43.4 % )
- Kidnappings: 8 vs. 36 ( up 350 % )
- Bank robberies: 4 vs. 15 ( up 275 % )
- Vehicle theft: 15,688 vs. 18,629 ( up 18.8 % )
- Violent robbery: 3,459 vs. 6,245 ( up 80.5 % )
In April of this year there were 69 homicides, 15 kidnappings and a daily average of 102 vehicle thefts in Baja California.
The data is from the state's Dep't. of Public Security.

2) Fifteen tons of marihuana were destroyed near Santa Maria del Oro, state of Nayarit. The 37,680 plants were in four fields measuring 3,768 sq. meters (some 4,506 sq. yds.)
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Cuarto Poder (Tuxtla, Chiapas) 5/25/08

Mex. immigration officials detained 66 illegals (sic) found stuffed in a truck at a highway inspection checkpoint on the Escarcega-Villahermosa highway, in Chiapas. (Mexico's southernmost state.) All 66 were Hondurans (25 women, 3 minors, 37 men; plus the driver, also an illegal Honduran). Their three smugglers, in a different vehicle, were also apprehended.
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Diario de Guadalajara (Guadalajara, Jalisco) , El Porvenir (Monterrey, Nuevo Leon) 5/25/08

During January and February of this year, Mex. immigration detained 8,078 persons who entered Mexico illegally, of whom 83.7 % were from Honduras, Guatemala and El Salvador. Most other nationalities represented were from Western Hemisphere countries but there were also 31 from Ethiopia, the same number from Somalia and eight Iraqis. (Our report of 5/15/08 covered the period from Jan. to April and showed that 45 Ethiopians, 52 Somalis, 91 Eritreans were detained in Chiapas.)
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El Debate (Culiacan, Sinaloa) 5/25/08

15 more antennas and 5 radio communication towers were seized by Mex. military at the "El Salto" hill, next to Culiacan. The gear included repeaters, amplifiers, radios, "re-transmitters" and other technical equipment, all unidentified as to owner and presumably used for illicit purposes. One area had a dangerous, concealed booby trap. (Our report of 5/17/08 relates.)
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El Diario (Ciudad Juarez, Chihuahua) 5/25/08

There were eight homicides in Juarez yesterday (Sat.), which brings May's tally up to 106. Two of the victims yesterday were police officers and that brings up to 14 the number of police officers executed this year. All the events yesterday involved either heavy caliber firearms and ammunition including armor piercing types, multiple "coup de grace" shots to the head or car-to-car gunfire assaults.
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El Sur (Acapulco, Guerrero) 5/25/08

Yesterday morning (Sat.) a retired Mex. army officer fell victim to a car-to-car gunfire assault on a highway in Guerrero. He was hit 18 times with AK47 and AR 15 caliber rounds.
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La Cronica de Hoy (Mexico City) 5/25/08

Advance information from a soon-to-be published book, "El Secuestro en Mexico" (Kidnapping in Mexico) states that from 1994 to 2007 there were 7,836 persons kidnapped in Mexico and that 650 (8.3 %) of these were murdered. The author, Jose Antonio Ortega Sanchez, also states that the ransoms paid from 1986 to 2006 reached 510 million 741 thousand 343 U.S. dollars. Twenty of the kidnappings have been carried out by "clandestine armed groups", but though relatively few in numbers they accounted for 81 million dollars, 15.6 % of the overall total.
There were 438 kidnappings last year.
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Novedades de Quintana Roo (Cancun, Q.R.) 5/25/08

The Consuls of the U.K., Ireland and Australia met with the Chief of Police of Cancun and expressed their concern due to the extortions suffered by tourists from their countries at the hands of local police officers. The chief said he would look into the matter.
Thugs have tried to break into the Portuguese Consulate in Cancun six times this year. European Union representatives plan to meet with local officials on the 30th to deal with the issue of insecurity in the area.
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