Mass kidnappings of migrants latest cash cow for Mexico drug gangs

MEXICAN drug gangs branching out into new criminal activity are earning a steady stream of cash from the mass kidnapping of migrants, making the already arduous journey to the United States even more lethal.

The trek across Mexico has long been dangerous for the hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants, mostly Central Americans, who try their luck each year, risking robbery, death from fast-moving freight trains or dehydration.

But in the past couple of years, the feared Zetas cartel has raised the stakes and created another security headache for president Felipe Calderon’s government, which has spent millions of dollars embroiled in a brutal drug war.