Criminals in Juárez turn to bank heists

Things are really messed up in Mexico, Murders everyday by the drug Cartel's ,Kidnappings , and now Bank robberies!
If this crap starts spilling over into the U.S. I hope nobody takes it lightly ,these Assholes are as bad as they get , and need to be dealt with like they were the Taliban or Al Qaeda! see my other post at report on Arrakis

The four bank robbers appeared to be not much older than 20. But they used handguns to threaten tellers and take cash and even cell phones in a display at Banco Azteca in east Juárez, police said.

The Banco Azteca robbery was one of four bank robberies last Wednesday in Juárez, which is already struggling with a staggering number of killings -- about 1,040 so far this year. There have been more than 70 bank robberies in the city.

"It's a phenomenon we are seeing in Juárez this year that goes hand-in-hand with the armed conflicts between organized criminal gangs," Guillermo Dowell, the Juárez version of a city manager, told reporters last week.

Juárez city officials and experts on Mexico have said that drug-trafficking gangs have turned to bank robberies, extortion, kidnappings and other crimes to raise money lost from drug smuggling disruptions as cartels fight for supremacy.

Unlike the United States where some bank robberies are often carried out with nothing more than a threatening note, bank robbers in Mexico are almost always armed. Shootouts with police have also occurred in the past.

City officials are urging banks to take preventive steps, including requiring customers to remove sunglasses, caps and hats before entering. Authorities have also launched a "public enemies" program were residents can dial 070 to make anonymous tips to identify photos of suspects in robberies and other crimes. But there have been a few successes, they say.

On Sept. 29, police
captured a 19-year-old man and a 17-year-old woman as they drove away after robbing a bank.