Thread: Police Rescue Teenage Girl From Kidnappers

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Police Rescue Teenage Girl From Kidnappers

Last Updated:
11-04-05 at 7:33AM

Two men are behind bars this morning after allegedly kidnapping a girl and demanding ransom from the family.

Details right now are sketchy, but it appears this was part of a human smuggling operation.

Police say Thursday night they got a call from parents saying their daughter was kidnapped.

They said two men had approached them, demanding money in exchange for their teenage daughter. That's the point when officers got involved.

"We had set-up a prearranged location to meet and transfer the cash. When we arrived we found that the victim was with our two suspects. At that point, we locked everything down and took them into custody," said Sgt. Wes Albers with the San Diego Police Department.

Police say the girl had been brought up from Mexico.

They were arrested Thursday night in San Ysidro near the Plaza De Las Americas.

The men were reportedly paid $300 to transport the girl across the border. However when they arrived, they demanded $2,000 more in ransom from the girl's parents.

www.signonsandiego.com

Immigrant rescued from smugglers

UNION-TRIBUNE
November 4, 2005

SAN YSIDRO – San Diego police last night rescued a 15-year-old Mexican girl being held by immigrant smugglers who were demanding more money from her mother.

Detectives and patrol officers staked out the Kmart parking lot on Camino de la Plaza for more than an hour until two suspected kidnappers arrived with the girl.

The men, in their 20s, were arrested, and the girl was freed about 9:15 p.m., police said.

The girl had been living with her father in Tijuana and was trying to join her mother, who lives in San Ysidro, said Detective James McGhee of the robbery unit.

Smugglers brought the girl to her mother about 8 a.m. yesterday and were paid $300. They demanded $2,000 more, which the mother didn't have, so they took the girl away, McGhee said.

It isn't clear where the men held the girl, but they arranged to meet her mother again about 6 p.m. in the Kmart lot. The mother called police at that point.

Then she made additional arrangements with the kidnappers and the meeting time was delayed.

Undercover officers saw a pickup with the girl and two men pull into the parking lot shortly after 9 p.m. Officers moved in and made the arrests.

The girl appeared to be in good condition, but she was taken to a hospital for an examination, police said.

The girl would be allowed to stay in the United States with her mother to testify against the smuggling suspects, McGhee said. He said the men are Mexican citizens and will likely face charges of kidnapping for extortion.