Why Is Phoenix Now the Number Two Kidnapping Capital of the World?
Question by * Smile! *: Why is Phoenix now the number two kidnapping capital of the world?
“Phoenix Number Two Kidnapping Capital as Drug Cartel Wars Intensify”
http://www.drugaddictiontreatment.com/addiction-news/drug-crimes/phoenix-number-two-kidnapping-capital-as-drug-cartel-wars-intensify/
Horrible images of kidnap victims tortured and held for ransom have long been the norm in Mexico, the number one kidnapping capital of the world. There, judges, police officers and others are targeted by the Mexican drug cartels and abductions are as common as graffiti-marked buildings. But the kidnapping problem has spilled over to the United States, specifically to Phoenix, Arizona. America’s fifth largest city, Phoenix has a population of 1.6 million people, and covers an area of 517 square miles (larger than Los Angeles). The threat is ever-present on Phoenix streets – and has been since 2005 when the metro area gained the dubious distinction of America’s kidnapping capital. With its numbers right behind Mexico, Phoenix is the number two kidnapping capital of the world.
Numbers Tell the Story
The kidnapping problem in Phoenix, however, as widely reported by various news agencies in the past year, involves victims who are either illegal aliens or connected to the drug trade. Some officials have commented that all the Phoenix kidnappings are connected to illegal immigration but that the actual numbers (359 in 2007, a 10-year high, 366 in 2008, and 302 for the first 11 months of 2009) account for just one-third of the reported kidnappings taking place in the metropolitan area. People are just not reporting all the kidnappings.
The situation has gotten so bad that the fear is anyone who looks like they have money is in danger of being kidnapped. According to news stories, ransoms have ranged from $ 30,000 to $ 1 million. Some have even included demands for large drug loads. An L.A. Times story in February 2009 quoted Phoenix police saying that most every victim and suspect is connected to the drug smuggling world, usually tracing back to the Mexican state of Sinaloa.
Phoenix police say many come from the Sinaloan towns of Guasave, Leyva, and Los Mochis.
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