Drug trafficking takes advantage of anonymity on the internet to recruit young people in Mexico

He drug trafficking in Mexico take advantage of the “high anonymity” on the internet, especially in video games, to attract young people, who are “potential victims”, according to the executive director of the Pompidou Group of the Council of Europe, Thomas Kattau.

Within the framework of the ‘International Forum for Capacity Building Against Addictions and Crimes Associated with Internet Use’, held in Mexico City this Tuesday, Kattau explained that this recruitment would occur to buy or traffic drugs, as well as other substances. illegal.

“Generally speaking, the contributing factor to video game recruiting is that digital platforms “They have a high degree of anonymity,” said the executive director of the international cooperation platform on drugs and addictions of the Council of Europe.

This situation turns any young person into “potential victim” of organized crime and, specifically, drug trafficking.

According to the organization Reinserta, which helps children and young people in Mexico who are victims of violence, 30,000 children and adolescents have already been recruited through different means.

Organized crime uses anonymity to cross limits that, off screen, would not be so easy to cross.

“Obviously, it is very difficult for a criminal to interact in a physical context with a young person. “She won’t go to a dark or dangerous street,” Kattau stated.

In fact, video games make it difficult to track users and their interactions because the data on these platforms is usually not public.

He also stressed that youth have “much less risk awareness” and it is “more open to being requested” through networks.

Along with anonymity, Kattau pointed out that a risk that can lead young people to be recruited by drug trafficking is the lack of money, since organized crime offers “a quick way” to get it.

“Cyber ​​police” to raise awareness

On the other hand, the director for drug and corruption issues in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs (SRE) of Mexico, Lorena Alvarado, also pointed out in an interview with EFE the task of the “cyber police” to stop recruitment through the internet. .

“We have a cyber police force that is carrying out investigations to learn more about how organized crime operates to capture these young people through platforms and video games.”he indicated.

Among these operations, an awareness campaign stood out so that youth “realize that you have to take care of your data and that you have to be careful who you interact with” because video games can be “safety spaces” for organized crime.

Finally, he assured that corruption, an element considered essential for the development of organized crime, is a “exception” within the Mexican administration.

According to Reinserta, corruption is “present in all bureaucratic procedures and levels of authority” in the country.

“I wouldn’t think that corruption exists in every bureaucratic procedure. “It may exist, but it is more of an exception,” he asserted.