Harfuch announces a national anti-extortion strategy; Mexico City and seven other states are given priority.

MEXICO CITY (apro).- The Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection, Omar García Harfuch, reported that 66% of extortion cases are concentrated in the State of Mexico, Mexico City, Guanajuato, Nuevo León, Veracruz, Jalisco, Michoacán, and Guerrero, entities that will be subject to "priority attention" to combat this crime.

Accompanied by the Secretaries of National Defense and the Navy, as well as the commander of the National Guard and the head of the Attorney General's Office (FGR), García Harfuch announced that the National Strategy against Extortion will be launched on August 1st. This strategy aims to combat this crime, which manifests itself through phone calls and in-person extortion, known as extortion.

After recounting the arrests of alleged extortionists made during Claudia Sheinbaum's administration, García Harfuch maintained that the plan to contain this crime is possible thanks to the recent approval of the new National Investigation and Intelligence System Law, "which strengthens investigations and expands capabilities to dismantle criminal networks and arrest perpetrators of violence related to extortion."

Without providing figures on the scale of the crime nationwide, García Harfuch acknowledged that most extortion phone calls originate from state and federal prisons.

The official outlined as part of the strategy "inter-institutional coordination between the Ministry of National Defense, the Ministry of the Navy, the Attorney General's Office, the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, the National Guard, and the National Intelligence Center," which would also include "close collaboration and information sharing with local authorities in various states across the country, ... with the anti-extortion units of local prosecutors' offices," and the implementation of the victim assistance protocol.

Regarding the states where kidnapping and extortion have the highest rates, García Harfuch stated that they will be addressed "as a priority with multidisciplinary attention and specialized work teams."

Bank accounts will be frozen

The official explained that the Financial Intelligence Unit (UIF) is working with the National Strategy against Extortion to freeze bank accounts identified as holding extortion funds, and that court orders will be requested "for the purpose of blocking cell phones and devices linked to extortion calls, in addition to increasing operations in detention centers and social reintegration centers to seize telephone equipment used by inmates to commit said crime."

Noting that the 089 hotline will be opened to receive anonymous reports, García Harfuch announced that staff will be trained to assist victims and resolve crises, that a national media campaign will be launched, and that hotel staff will be trained to prevent so-called virtual kidnappings.

Omar García Harfuch recounted at least 30 arrests, nine of them stemming from judicial arrest warrants, against alleged members of criminal organizations dedicated to extortion, kidnapping, homicide, drug dealing, and extortion in Michoacán, Tabasco, the State of Mexico, Mexico City, Zacatecas, Querétaro, Guanajuato, and Quintana Roo.

The official added that "from March to date, more than 60 cases of kidnapping and extortion have been referred" to the SSPC's investigative departments, based on calls received by the Citizen Security Observatory, which operates in 20 states across the country.

Two promotional videos were presented at the press conference, urging citizens not to be intimidated if they receive an extortion call and to report it to the appropriate authorities.

García Harfuch was accompanied during the announcement by the Attorney General of the Republic, Alejandro Gertz Manero; the Secretary of National Defense, Ricardo Trevilla Trejo; the Secretary of the Navy, Raymundo Pedro Morales Ángeles; and the Commander of the National Guard, Hernán Cortés Hernández.

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