A Mexican drug cartel posed as a private security firm to lure recruits
The cartel sought recruits who wanted to “better themselves”, then forced them to sell drugs.
One of Mexico’s most powerful criminal gangs allegedly lured new recruits into its ranks by handing out flyers promising jobs with rapid career advancement, benefits, and a Christmas bonus in a fake private security firm fronted by a US citizen.
Eduardo Almaguer, attorney general in the western state of Jalisco, said on Wednesday that state police discovered the scheme run by the Jalisco New Generation Cartel after arresting 13 suspected members of the group last weekend.
Almaguer said the cartel had set up a security firm called Segmex that it used for recruitment in Puerto Vallarta, a popular Pacific coast resort, and in Tlaquepaque, a working-class district within the state capital, Guadalajara.
“These criminals hand out these flyers on the streets to recruit people and incorporate them into the ranks of organized crime,” Almaguer said at a press conference as he held up one of the flyers used to advertise a position as a bodyguard at Segmex.
The flyer said that applicants should be able to handle firearms, have basic knowledge of self-defense, and show “initiative and a desire to better themselves.” It said new recruits would receive an initial weekly salary of 3,000 pesos (approximately $170 dollars), plus benefits, although former soldiers or police officers would be offered a higher wage.
The Tequila Files 