Mexico ends 2010 with 15,273 drug crimes

[News_Editor]

Mexico ends 2010 with 15,273 drug crimes

2011-01-13 21:29:26 GMT+7 (ICT)

MEXICO (BNO NEWS) - A total of 15,273 drug-related crimes occurred in Mexico in 2010, according to government figures as communicated by security spokesman Alejandro Poiré.

The drug-related murder rate decreased by 10 percent in the last quarter of the year. In the first quarter there were 3,339 murders, the second 4,102; in the third 4,142 and 3,690 in the fourth quarter, Poiré added at a meeting on security.

Despite the many murders, about fifty percent of them were concentrated in three northern states: Chihuahua, Sinaloa, and Tamaulipas. From 2006 to 2010, 85 municipalities had 70% of all killings nationwide.

Mexico's death toll in 2010, based on a study released on Tuesday by Germany's Heidelberg University, exceeded those caused by the invasion of Afghanistan and the civil war in Somalia and Sudan, news agency Prensa Latina reported. The study placed Mexico among the six most dangerous countries in the world.

Poiré further stated that the government is debilitating criminal organizations and has captured 51 percent of the most wanted criminals, although critics argue that prisoners often serve only short sentences.

Last weekend, at least 27 people were killed in the beach resort city of Acapulco. More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon began the fight against organized crime in December 2006.

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