Bus passengers kidnapped for recruitment in Mexico gangs
April 11th, 2011 - 11:16 am ICT by IANSMexico City, April 11 (IANS/EFE) A bus was hijacked in a northern Mexican state to recruit the male passengers as gunmen in drug gangs, according to witnesses.
The bus, heading for the border with the US, was stopped by armed men in San Fernando city in Tamaulipas state. The armed men forced young men off the bus and let the rest of the passengers go, the Reforma newspaper reported citing witnesses’ accounts.
The young men taken off the bus were led away by the gunmen, it said.
Several drug cartels operate in Tamaulipas, a state on the border with Texas.
Some gangs have resorted to using unusual methods to recruit gunmen because of high casualties in the gang war being waged by rival drug traffickers for control of territory, the federal government said.
Los Zetas, considered Mexico’s most violent drug cartel, is suspected of murdering 72 migrants in August last year after they refused to join the organisation.
The dangerous situation has forced bus companies operating near the US border to suspend service, affecting thousands of people, media reports said.
–IANS/EFE
pm/rd
- 121 Bodies recovered from mass graves in Mexican state - May 06, 2011
- 49 mutilated bodies found on Mexican highway (Lead) - May 14, 2012
- Mexican cartels moving drugs in armoured vehicles - Jan 18, 2012
- Over 200 kidnap victims killed in Mexico in 2010 - Feb 04, 2011
- Police chief, 2 bodyguards killed in Mexico - Apr 17, 2011
- 25 killed in Mexico clash - Sep 03, 2010
- 11 killed in Mexico violence - Nov 13, 2010
- 13 more bodies found in mass graves in northern Mexico - Apr 08, 2011
- Six killed, dumped on road in Mexico - Nov 03, 2010
- 13 bodies found in Mexico mass graves - Apr 09, 2011
- 6 policemen kidnapped in Mexican city - Mar 12, 2011
- Over 100 Mexican immigration agency employees sacked - Oct 16, 2011
- 16 police officers detained in mass graves case in northern Mexico - Apr 15, 2011
- Mexican gangs using kids to smuggle drugs to US - Jan 09, 2012
- Indian-origin man teaches yoga to Mexican migrants - Oct 01, 2011
Tags: armed men, bus companies, bus passengers, casualties, dangerous situation, drug cartel, drug cartels, drug gangs, drug traffickers, federal government, gang war, gunmen, los zetas, male passengers, mexico city, migrants, recruitment, tamaulipas state, violent drug, young men