Thread: Kidnappings cross the border

AP IMPACT: Kidnappings cross the border
JACQUES BILLEAUD

PHOENIX — A woman leaving an eyeglass store is grabbed in the parking lot by four men who force her, kicking and screaming, into a pickup truck. The kidnappers demand a $900,000 ransom.

But police soon realize her family is holding something back and isn’t fully cooperating with them. Later, investigators find out that relatives have arranged the woman’s release on their own. And they discover that members of the family are heavy into marijuana trafficking.

The case illustrates how a terrifyingly common crime in Latin America has moved across the border into the United States: Criminals and their family members are being kidnapped by fellow criminals and held for six-figure ransoms.

The abductions are occurring in the Phoenix area at the rate of practically one per day, and police suspect they have led to killings in which bound and bullet-riddled bodies have been found dumped in the desert.

The kidnap victims are typically drug- or immigrant-smugglers, who are seen as inviting targets because they have a lot of money, they can raise large sums of cash on short notice, and they are unlikely to go to the police, for fear their own shady dealings will come to light.

“We have never had a victim that we have investigated that has been as clean as the new driven snow,â€

Please talk about this. It is very significant. They're saying the Phoenix area is averaging about one of these incidents a day. This is the first time I've seen it in the news.

This is all part of us becoming another third world nation!