Are Cartels Connected to Booming Truck Theft in Mexico?

InSight Crime, By Katya Bleszynska, Apr. 12, 2021

Tens of thousands of trucks on Mexico’s highways are being hijacked for their cargo each year, with criminal gangs becoming more daring, sophisticated and violent in carrying out these assaults.

Around 36 trucks are hijacked or stolen every day in Mexico, according to the Mexican news outlet Eje Central. And such attacks have become better coordinated and planned in recent years, Borderland Beat reported in late March.

Highway robberies, commonly committed by gangs of 6 to 8 gunmen, have dedicated surveillance teams monitoring truck movements. Armed assailants will use multiple cars to block the truck’s path and will either unhook its cargo trailer and reattach it onto another vehicle, transfer the goods into their own truck, or steal the whole vehicle. Drivers are taken hostage to delay police response and are sometimes killed.

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