Mexican drug gang hires 'pretty' hit women in new strategy to surprise enemies
A Mexican drug gang is hiring pretty young women to carry out killings to surprise its enemies, a suspected member of La Linea said in a video released on Tuesday.
Published: 12:19AM BST 18 Aug 2010
Drug gangs are hiring young women to carry out killings Photo: AP
Around 30 women aged between 18 and 30 years have learned in recent months to carry out killings accompanied by hit men, and most have killed people, said Rogelio Amaya.
"They're pretty, good-looking, to help mislead opponents," said the suspected member of a gang of enforcers for the Juarez cartel in the country's most violent city of Ciudad Juarez.
The women operate in the same way as men and carry both light and heavy weapons, the suspect said. Mexico's drug battles have left a trail of blood and fear across the country, particularly in Ciudad Juarez.
More than 2,660 suspected drug murders were reported in the city across from El Paso, Texas, in 2009 and some 1,860 have been reported this year already. Most are blamed on turf wars between the Juarez and Sinaloa gangs over key trafficking routes into the United States.
At least 11 suspected drug-related deaths were reported overnight on Monday in Ciudad Juarez. More than 28,000 people have died in suspected drug violence since the end of 2006, when Mexico's President Felipe Calderon launched a controversial military crackdown on organised crime.
