LEÓN, Mexico. – One of the highest impact crimes currently affecting the state of Guanajuato is “train robbery“.
The average of train robberies in Guanajuato is more than 500 burglarized freight railroad containers per month, representing a total of 60% of these kind of crimes along the country.
Deputy for Guanajuato and member of the Congress Security Commission, Beatriz Manriquez said that “more than 6,000 of these thefts take place every year across the state of Guanajuato”.
The train routes that pass through 15 municipalities and more than 100 rural communities in the state of Guanajuato are: Mexico-Laredo, Mexico-Ciudad Juarez, and Manzanillo / Lázaro Cárdenas-Bajio.
During 2015, more than 10,000 train robberies occurred in Mexico, resulting in losses of up to one billion US dollars.
Carlos Zamarripa, Attorney General of Guanajuato, declared that in some cases, state authorities in collaboration with the National Security Commission have recovered auto parts, electrical appliances, electronics, footwear, grain and other goods.
Alvar Cabeza de Vaca, State Secretary of Public Security, said: “we are combating criminal activities such as train robberies, hydrocarbons tapping and we also maintain a constant surveillance operation on the federal highways.”
Using technology and specialized personnel, the Mexican Army, Federal Police, the Attorney General and the State Ministry of Public Security are coordinating efforts in order to stop railroad looters.
Mexican Army, Federal Police, the Attorney General and Ministry of Public Security of the State collaborate to combat train robbers (Image: Google)
On the other hand, Miguel Angel Simental, Commissioner of the Federal Police in Guanajuato, said that the Gendarmerie and Regional Security are supporting state law enforcement officers in this task.
Other states with the highest number of train robberies are Tamaulipas, Puebla, Veracruz and Michoacán.
San Miguel Times has been constantly monitoring the train robbery activity in the Bajio Region:
On May, Monday 23, robbers looted a train while it stopped at six different locations within the state of Guanajuato: Apaseo el Grande, Celaya, Salamanca, Pénjamo, Irapuato, and finally, León. This looting occurred around 4 am near the Maseca facilities, located on the Panamerican highway.
On September Saturday 17 and Sunday 18, two actual train lootings were caught on video in the municipalities of Salamanca and Celaya, Guanajuato state, where entire families participated in the robberies, including children, in both cases the outer brake was used by local residents to stop the train and ransack the freight wagons.
Local people derailed a train to steal products in Querétaro.
On Monday, September 26, in the state of Querétaro at the San Nicolás community, people tried to detain a train that transported commodities.
Source: http://noticieros.televisa.com/