Mexican Drug Cartels Activity Possibly Moving North Of Border

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SAN DIEGO -- A June 8 kidnapping in Chula Vista is raising fears that brazen crimes related to drug cartels south of the border are making their way north. Federal authorities rescued the victim earlier this month and took five people into custody, but are being especially closed-mouth about the crime because of its possible connection to drug traffickers, The San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

The house where the man was held for eight days is about a mile from where Mexican-drug-trafficking suspects shot at a Chula Vista police officer in 2005 and about 3 miles from where a body was found dumped that same year, also suspected to be the work of Mexican drug groups.

Federal agents say investigators have been tracking a series of unusual crimes around the South Bay in which the primary suspects are former members of the Tijuana-based Arellano FTlix cartel. The renegade group, apparently seeking vengeance, has been kidnapping and killing suspected Arellano members north of the border in recent years, sources told The Union-Tribune.

Relatives of the 32-year-old man kidnapped June 8 paid $200,000 in ransom, and FBI agents rescued him June 16, the newspaper reported. Growing numbers of wealthy Baja California residents, including some of the gated community where the kidnapped man was held, are living north of the border for safety reasons, the Union-Tribune reported.

Some who live in San Diego County are business owners who have been kidnapped in Mexico because they have money. Others are involved in drug trafficking, the newspaper reported