Because there have been cases of Durango families being extorted in Mazatlán, Sinaloa, the head of the Municipal Department of Tourism and Economic Development, Valeria Gutiérrez Velasco, asked Durango residents who visit the port to take precautions.
She reported that in recent weeks there have been reports of cases of abuse by alleged police officers who have extorted at least eight Durango families in the city of Mazatlán and have taken up to 80 thousand pesos from them for letting them continue.
Given the situation, the municipal official said she trusts that the State Government of Sinaloa will provide greater security in the tourist areas of the port.
“The security recommendation for any place, here in Durango we are a safe city (…) we hope that Sinaloa, Mazatlán and all the cities do the same, recommending that they be careful as everywhere,” said Valeria Gutiérrez.
Without specifying what kind of care citizens should take or how to avoid being extorted, Gutiérrez Velasco assured that this situation is already being reviewed by the Tourism Secretariat of Durango and its counterpart in Sinaloa.
In this same sense, he said that when traveling on the highways, mainly those of Zacatecas and Mazatlán, he recommended that the trip preferably be made during the day even though at this time no criminal incidents have been reported.
“The recommendation is to leave at a moderate hour, in the morning, we normally hear of these cases on the Zacatecas-Mazatlán highway, I had to go on the highway to Zacatecas towards San Luis Potosí and I did not feel unsafe at any time,” said Gutiérrez Velasco.
Theft of cars in Durango
Last week, the vice president of the Mexican Association of Insurance and Bond Agents, Monica Gutierrez, reported that at least seven vehicles from Durango families had been stolen in tourist areas of Mazatlan, such as the Downtown, Golden Zone and the Malecon.
The modus operandi of the extortionists is that they present themselves as if they were police officers, with false documents with a supposed theft report and even if the owner of the car proves the legitimacy with an invoice and insurance policy, they arrest them in a supposed police demarcation and take away the motor unit.
“Their vehicle is taken away, even if they legally prove that it is legal, they check the Repuve and it does not have any theft report, but on the contrary, they extort them and take away their vehicle of all brands and all ranges,” said Gutierrez.
He said that none of the citizens who reported the thefts to insurance agencies have been able to identify the alleged police corporation that arrested them, only that the alleged agents showed identifications with official logos.
“They show them identifications that are obviously false and when the case is presented to the authorities they say they have no knowledge of the type of complaint that the victims are making,” he indicated.
Source: elsoldedurango
