Anonymous - 10-10-2004 at 08:25 AM
http://www.nctimes.com/articles/2004/10/09/news/sandiego/19_...
October 8, 2004
TIJUANA, Mexico -- A sophisticated kidnap gang in the rough border city of Tijuana appear to be targeting a new set of victims, one with ready cash on
hand to pay ransom demands: immigrant traffickers.
About half of the 20 kidnappings carried out locally in the last few months appear to have targeted "polleros," as the people smugglers are known
here, according to Antonio Martinez Luna, the Baja California state assistant attorney general.
A heavily armed group of kidnappers have snatched traffickers, apparently on the assumption that they can quickly meet large ransom demands, since the
smuggling trade is carried on largely with cash payments.
The gang of about one dozen kidnappers reportedly carries assault rifles and travels in bulletproof vehicles.
However, several of the recent victims have disappeared, while others have turned up dead.
Martinez Luna said police did not have firm figures on how many smugglers may have been kidnapped, but said the state's organized crime unit had
already launched an investigation into the phenomenon.
In the past, owners of currency exchange houses had been kidnappers' favorite targets in Tijuana.
Over the last year, rising numbers of undocumented migrants have been kidnapped in border areas, in some cases by the smugglers themselves or by rival
gangs, both of whom hold the migrants until relatives pay off ransom demands.