Chihuahua, Chih.- Most of the vehicle thefts committed in the city are directly linked to drug dealing, affirmed Jesús Veliz, coordinator of the Vehicle Theft Unit of the Central Zone Prosecutor’s Office, referring to the fact that there are no gangs dedicated to this activity, rather they are cases in which those responsible operate on their own.
Said criminal activity has the purpose of stealing an auto part to acquire drugs and then leaving the vehicle abandoned.
So far this year, a total of 300 cars have been stolen in the city, being the Downtown area, as well as the South corridor from Nueva España, Fuentes Mares and 16th Street in the area of the pantheons, the areas where the most thefts have been registered and mainly the ninety-two thousand model vehicles are the most susceptible to theft.
According to the FGE report, so far this year 300 vehicles have been stolen and of this, in at least 12 cases there was use of violence, of the robberies registered during the month of January, 88 robberies were reported vehicular; in February there were 69; in March the figure was 77 and April closed with 66 robberies, which meant a reduction of 14 percent compared to the previous month. However, in the first four-month period, a third of all the vehicles stolen the previous year were already stolen.
It should be noted that, during 2022, of the 970 car thefts reported to the Prosecutor’s Office, in at least 57 cases there was use of violence against the owner of the unit, whether he was attacked with a firearm or knife, or beaten. to strip him of his car.
The coordinator of the Vehicle Theft Unit reported that the issue of “carjacking” does not occur frequently in the city, which refers to violent vehicle theft and that no structured gangs have been detected for the commission of these crimes.
He said that there is a 60 percent recovery of vehicles, which is due to the fact that those responsible, once they take the unit, steal some auto part, be it the battery, tires or car stereos, which they later use to acquire drugs and leave the vehicle abandoned.
Regarding the use of stolen vehicles for the commission of homicides, he said that this year there is only one case recorded, which occurred last weekend when a Tsuru-type car was stolen that hours later was used by four men to shoot another 28-year-old in the Díaz Ordaz neighborhood.
