FBI: El Paso Is a Major Human Smuggling, Kidnapping Destination
July 20, 2022 | Texas
El Paso, Texas, is a central destination for human smuggling and extortion, the FBI El Paso Field Office warns. The FBI has been issuing warnings and alerts nearly every month this year about kidnapping and extortion crimes occurring in the border town.
El Paso is located directly across the Rio Grande River from Ciudad Juárez, Mexico, one of the most violent places in the world. The Juárez Cartel and street gangs associated with it, La Línea and Bario Azteca, are warring with the Sinaloa Cartel for control of a multi-billion dollar human trafficking and drug trade.
In February, FBI El Paso announced it was continuing “to see an increase in crimes involving kidnapping/virtual kidnapping extortion over the past year.”
“These types of cases are tragic,” Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey R. Downey said. “It’s not the amount of money involved; it’s the fact innocent victims are tricked into believing their loved ones are in danger and the horror and helplessness they feel as they scramble to secure what they think is their release.”
Between February and June, the FBI and its task force partners rescued 88 people who paid to be smuggled into the U.S., Downey said. Once they got to El Paso, they were held for ransom against their will in stash houses in squalid and dangerous conditions.
The FBI has seen a recent shift in the level of extortions calls being made to family members in other countries to pay a ransom, Downey said. Ransoms can be up to $10,000 per person…. (Excerpt from The Virginia Star)
