Phoenix Arizona Kidnapping Capital USA

In what officials caution is now a dangerous and even deadly crime wave, Phoenix, Arizona has become the kidnapping capital of America, with more incidents than any other city in the world outside of Mexico City. But local authorities say Washington, DC is too occupied with al Qaeda terrorists to care about what is happening in their own backyard right now.

When you think of kidnappings, you think of areas like Colombia, Brazil, Somalia or Iraq and Afghanistan. But surprisingly the Kidnapping Capital of the World is Mexico City. Phoenix Arizona is in second place, making it the Kidnapping Capital of the U.S.A. There were over 370 cases of kidnapping in Phoenix, Arizona last year alone.

The abductions are occurring in the Phoenix area at the rate of practically one per day, and police suspect they have led to killings in which bound and bullet-riddled bodies have been found dumped in the desert.

The kidnap victims are typically drug or immigrant-smugglers, who are seen as inviting targets because they have a lot of money, they can raise large sums of cash on short notice, and they are not likely to go to the police, for fear, because they are afraid their own shady dealings will come to light.

“We have never had a victim that we have investigated that has been as clean as the new driven snow,” said Sgt. Phil Roberts, who investigates the kidnappings. “There has always been some type of criminal element to it. Either they are criminals, drug dealers or human smugglers - or a close family member is.” The kidnappers themselves are fellow traffickers who are doing it for the money or to punish their rivals.

The San Diego area has also seen a rise in kidnappings over the past year, with two or three reported during busy weeks. Some victims were mixed up in drug smuggling. But the hostage-taking appears to be most prevalent in Phoenix, the nation’s biggest base of operations for immigrant smugglers.

Kidnappings are common in Mexico, and the victims often include criminals as well as legitimate businessmen, such as bankers. Phoenix police said they believe the kidnappers here are not going after legitimate businessmen for fear their families will go to the police.

The kidnappings first came to light in Phoenix three years ago but are rising as overall violence associated with immigrant smuggling intensifies in Arizona.

Immigrant smuggling is a lucrative crime: A ring that moves a load of 30 illegal immigrants through Arizona can gross $45,000 to $75,000.

Smugglers can quickly get their hands on large sums of money - sometimes in the middle of the night. In one case, someone who turned to authorities about a kidnaping brought more than $300,000 in ransom money to the police department in cereal boxes.

Many of the abductions begin in “drop houses” - homes where immigrant smugglers hold customers until they pay up. Typically, the kidnappers storm drop houses or relatives’ homes at gunpoint, smack the victims around, tie them up and speed off to a hiding place.

Hostages are often tortured as the kidnappers try to force families to meet their demands. A victim’s finger might be cut off. A man might get a phone call in which he is forced to listen to his wife getting raped. Two smugglers were blindfolded and forced to stand in buckets of water while captors zapped them with an electrical cord.

The families go to the police only as a last resort, and even then, people may later cut investigators out of the picture and try to resolve things themselves. Sometimes hostages are found dead in the desert, with gunshot wounds to the head and torso, their hands bound behind them.

Please join us in prayer for God to intervene and these terrible crimes to stop.

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