Migrant kidnappings by Mexican cops on the rise-U.N.

REUTERS

12:41 p.m. March 15, 2008

MEXICO CITY – Cases of corrupt Mexican police kidnapping undocumented Central American migrants for ransom as they travel overland to the United States are on the rise, a United Nations official said Saturday.

Jorge Bustamante, the U.N.'s special investigator for migrant rights, said extorting ransoms from migrants could be more lucrative for unscrupulous police than working for drug smuggling gangs.

“They kidnap migrants, ask them for information, relatives' phone numbers; then they extort money from the families,” Bustamante said, presenting the conclusions of a week-long study of how undocumented migrants are treated in Mexico.

Bustamante told a news conference both federal and local police were involved in kidnapping rackets on Mexico's northern and southern borders. “It's an abuse and it's increasing,” he said.