SAN DIEGO (Border Report) — Three men recently found dead along the northbound lanes of the San Ysidro Port of Entry in Tijuana belonged to a gang called “The Monsters,” police said.
Police Chief José Fernando Sánchez González, head of Tijuana’s Public Safety and Security, says the gang began as a group of thugs who would block the flow of traffic at the crossing allowing others to cut in for a fee.
He says the same group is now responsible for most of the crime and drug dealing just south of the port of entry.
“There’s an ongoing conflict for control of the drug trade in that area,” Sánchez González said.
Since November, three men have been found dead along the northbound lanes at the crossing, and according to Sánchez González, all three were “Monsters” shot to death by rivals.
The chief told reporters on Thursday his officers have increased patrols on the Mexico side of the border crossing along with members of the National Guard.
He said they are having similar issues with drug dealing at border crossings in Tecate, Mexicali and as far away as Juárez just south of El Paso, Texas.
The police chief said they are once again seeing more occurrences of “blind mules,” people caught carrying drugs that were unknowingly planted in their cars by drug traffickers.
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