Gang of Teenage Carjackers Apprehended.

A gang of eight carjackers; six teenagers and two adults were apprehended by elements of the federal branch of the Public Security Secretariat (SSP) on Friday. The eight defendants had recently formed a gang of "carjackers" dedicated to carjacking cars and trucks near the Zaragoza port of entry located on the east side of Cd. Juárez. They would carjack their victims using physical violence and would often display their 9mm firearms.

The group used a nearby motel Río, located on M. J. Clouthier Ave. in the southeastern part of the city as their operations hub. The gang of carjackers was led by a 16 year old male. Among the arrested were also two suspects a 15 and an 18 year old who claimed to be US citizens residing in El Paso, Texas.

In their declarations the carjackers said that they had been carjacking cars and trucks throughout the city mainly between the hours of 6:30 a.m. and no later then 2:30 p.m. for about a month. The gang of teenage carjackers had rented four rooms at the motel and used it to temporarily store the stolen vehicles.

On Thursday personnel of federal police agency or Policía Federal (PF), tried to stop a blue 2006 Chevrolet light truck type HHR with Texas license plates with two teenage suspects inside. The driver of the vehicle led the police in a high speed chase back to the motel Río. There the federal police agents (PF) found six other vehicles and six other suspects the youngest was a 14 year old teenage girl.

None of the suspects were currently attending school and or were employed. Their only source of income was the illicit commission from the sale of the “carjacked” vehicles. In a brief interview with two of the suspects, the presumed leader of the band offered details of the way they operated. Jorge age 16, confirmed that his gang carjacked various cars and trucks under order by a still to identified criminal who paid them between 5 and 6 thousand pesos each or roughly 400 to 485.00 US dollars. They would later distributed the money between all eight, with each making between 200 and 400 US dollars a week.

Both suspects spoke with a degree of coldness and even less remorse. The leader of the gang described how they would drive around until they spotted the type of car that had been ordered, which were typically a newer truck, especially 4 x 4 with four passenger doors. They would follow the vehicle until they could carjack them at a stop light. They would also keep some of the stolen vehicles to continue working their carjackings. The rest of the vehicles were sold and presumed to have been sent to neighboring junk yards, where they were stripped and their car parts sold off. 

The vehicles also found in their possession and had been reported stolen within the last month were a white 2005 Nissan 300ZX, a 2007 Nissan Murano 2007 without plates, a black 2005  Nissan Maxima, a 1998 gray Honda Accord with plates of Texas, a gray 2009 Ford Focus and the blue 2006 Chevrolet HHR.

All the arrested were put at the disposal of the General Office of the State's Public Prosecutor Office (FGE), where an agent of the Public Ministry had opened up an investigation file charges against the adults suspects.

In the case of the teenage suspects, they could be remanded by the state authority, a judge from the office of Justice for Adolescent Violators, who would be responsible for determining their guilt or innocence. The established maximum sentence for juvenile offenders that commit serious crimes is a 15 year sentence.

Sources: Diario De Juarez