Silicon Investor (SI) -- The First Internet Community

STOCKTALK

We've detected that you're using an ad content blocking browser plug-in or feature. Ads provide a critical source of revenue to the continued operation of Silicon Investor. We ask that you disable ad blocking while on Silicon Investor in the best interests of our community. If you are not using an ad blocker but are still receiving this message, make sure your browser's tracking protection is set to the 'standard' level.

Politics : MITT ROMNEY -- Ignore unavailable to you. Want to Upgrade?

To: longnshort who wrote (1164)	2/6/2008 8:20:04 PM
From: Ann Corrigan	Read Replies (1) \| Respond to of 5586

Irony: Are they interested in grabbing a nasty US senator with a napoleonic complex? >Sophisticated Mexican groups plot abductions By Tony Manolatos UNION-TRIBUNE STAFF WRITER February 6, 2008 Organized, well-financed and violent Mexican kidnapping cells are targeting a growing number of U.S. citizens visiting communities popular with San Diegans and other California residents. Last year, at least 26 San Diego County residents were kidnapped and held for ransom in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach or Ensenada, local FBI agents overseeing the cases said yesterday. In 2006, at least 11 county residents had been kidnapped in the three communities. “Some of the 26 were recovered, some were hurt and some were killed,” said agent Alex Horan, who directs the FBI's violent-crime squad in San Diego. “It's not a pleasant experience. Victims have reported beatings, torture and there have been rapes. . . . Handcuffs and hoods over the head are common,” he said. When contrasted to the 40 million border crossings made every year at the San Ysidro Port of Entry, the kidnapping numbers are small. Most of the victims have business interests or family members in Mexico. But authorities said anyone planning to visit Mexico should be cautious. Kidnapped The number of San Diego County residents kidnapped in Tijuana, Rosarito Beach and Ensenada rose sharply last year: 2008: 2 2007: 26 2006: 11 2005: 10 Source: FBI San Diego office “I would certainly be concerned,” Horan said. The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana issued a travel advisory last week that said U.S. citizens living and traveling in Mexico should be extra vigilant. Gunfights and other violence linked to drug cartels have increased in Baja California, and more Mexican citizens have been kidnapped lately. While some of the groups suspected of kidnapping Americans are connected to drug trafficking, most aren't, Horan said. He described the kidnapping groups as sophisticated operations similar to terrorist cells, each with a boss and clear divisions of labor. Usually, one group is involved in scouting, another carries out the kidnapping, a third holds the victim and a fourth handles the ransom. “These are kidnapping cells. . .That's what they do. They do kidnappings all year long, Horan said.