Irish students a target for crime gangs in Mexico

A San Diego police sergeant has warned J1 students of the dangers of crossing the border into Mexico where Irish under-21s have been travelling congregating to avoid US drinking laws.

Students are going to the crime riddled city of Tijuana where kidnappings, muggings, and drink spiking are common.

The Irish Outreach in San Diego has also warned that drunken Irish students are being targeted by criminals who see them as easy prey after late-night drinking binges.

It also said many young Irish people have had to be taken into police custody when crossing back over the border because they “are overdosing on alcohol”.

JJ Salinas of the southern division, border crime suppression team in San Diego, said muggings and kidnappings were common, particularly when people were leaving nightclubs.

“Sometimes people are naïve in that they don’t recognise the high level of violence that’s occurring right now in Mexico.

“Violence has gone down a little but it’s still at a high level. For tourists going down, what we’re hearing is that there is random violence just after people leave the club. They’ll be walking back and sometimes take shortcuts or get in a taxi and get robbed or sometimes even kidnapped and all their money taken. There have been incidents where people were taken to an ATM and forced to take out all their money. It’s a criminal element looking for easy targets.”

Tijuana has seen a major fall-off in violence in the past two years, with the number of homicides falling from 820 in 2010 to 478 last year. It has a thriving party scene and is popular among lovers of dance music.

However, it is still dominated by a violent drug cartel which breeds violence and police corruption.

Sgt Salinas warned of the dangers of drinking to excess, saying Irish students have been taken into police custody in the early hours of Thursday mornings after returning from Tijuana.

“Wednesday night is when a large contingency, about 20 to 100 on a warm summer night, of people of Irish background will go down south together and come back between 2am and 3am.

“When they’re crossing back into the US several Irish people were evaluated for their own health as being too intoxicated. They were picked up for their own safety. Several were not actually taken into police custody but paramedics called to take care of them. They were overdosing on alcohol.”

Bernadette Cashman of the Irish Outreach Centre said a private bus company was running tours specially for Irish under-21s. The bus leaves them at the border every Wednesday night and then picks them up in the small hours of Thursday morning.

While in Mexico, they go to clubs that offer alcohol on an “all-you-can-drink” basis. The entrance fee is typically between $12 and $20 (€10 to €16).

Ms Cashman said there was evidence that bar staff or owners were adding drugs to drinks so young people would be helpless by the end of the night.

“They are putting tranquilisers in the drinks, tranquilisers that are designed for animals.”

She also warned that passports are often stolen while in Mexico, leaving students in a serious dilemma as once they returned to America, it became almost impossible to file a report with the Mexican police.

The US department of state warned: “Visitors should be aware of their surroundings at all times, even when in areas generally considered safe.

“Women travelling alone are especially vulnerable and should exercise caution, particularly at night.”