Tijuana municipal police freed two kidnapping victims and arrested five suspects in two separate operations over a 24-hour period this week, according to city officials. Both cases involved victims held for ransom in residential properties, and both ended when patrol officers responded to emergency calls from the victims themselves.
Two Victims Rescued From Residential Properties in 24 Hours
The first case unfolded on Wednesday when a man called 911 from inside a home in the Mariano Matamoros neighborhood, a sprawling hillside colonia in eastern Tijuana. The victim told dispatchers he was being held against his will. Officers from the city’s Dirección de Seguridad Ciudadana, Tijuana’s municipal police force, arrived and found the man restrained inside the residence. They arrested one suspect at the scene.
Hours later, a second kidnapping call came in from the Terrazas del Valle neighborhood, located farther east near the Tijuana-Tecate highway corridor. In that case, a woman managed to contact emergency services while being held in a house. Responding officers detained four suspects and rescued the victim unharmed. Police recovered a firearm during that operation.
Tijuana Mayor Ismael Burgueño confirmed both rescues in a public statement, calling the results a reflection of improved coordination between the city’s 911 dispatch center and patrol units. The five suspects were transferred to the Fiscalía General del Estado (FGE), Baja California’s state attorney general’s office, which handles kidnapping prosecutions under Mexican law.
Kidnapping Has Been a Persistent Problem in Tijuana Since 2018
Kidnapping for ransom, known in Mexico as secuestro, has long plagued Tijuana. The crime surged between 2018 and 2020 as cartel fragmentation created smaller criminal cells that turned to kidnapping as a revenue source. Many cases target business owners, taxi drivers, and migrants, though victims come from all walks of life.
Mexico’s national crime survey, published annually by INEGI (the country’s statistics agency), has consistently ranked Baja California among the top states for kidnapping reports. But the numbers likely undercount the problem. Surveys estimate that fewer than 2% of kidnappings in Mexico are formally reported to authorities, a phenomenon driven by distrust of police and fear of retaliation.
Municipal police in Tijuana have historically played a limited role in kidnapping investigations. Under Mexico’s legal framework, kidnapping is classified as a high-impact federal crime, meaning state and federal prosecutors take the lead. But the two cases this week show how street-level patrol officers can intervene when victims reach emergency services. The 911 system in Baja California was modernized in 2016 as part of a national rollout, and Tijuana’s dispatch center now handles thousands of calls daily.
The Burgueño administration, which took office in October 2024, has emphasized faster police response times as a core public safety goal. The mayor’s office reported earlier this year that average response times in Tijuana dropped below 10 minutes for priority calls, though independent verification of that figure is not available.
Mariano Matamoros and Terrazas del Valle Sit in High-Growth Eastern Zones
Both neighborhoods where the kidnappings occurred sit in Tijuana’s eastern expansion zone, an area that has grown rapidly over the past two decades. Mariano Matamoros is one of the city’s largest colonias by population, home to an estimated 100,000 residents spread across steep hillsides with limited infrastructure. Terrazas del Valle, closer to the Tecate toll road, is a more recently developed residential area with a mix of affordable housing complexes and informal settlements.
These eastern colonias are far from the tourist corridor along Avenida Revolución and the border crossing at San Ysidro. But they sit along routes that visitors and cross-border commuters use when traveling between Tijuana and the wine country in Valle de Guadalupe or the smaller border city of Tecate. The Tijuana-Tecate libre (free highway) passes directly through several of these neighborhoods.
Security conditions in eastern Tijuana vary block by block. Some developments have private security and gated access, while adjacent streets may lack consistent police patrols. The U.S. Consulate in Tijuana maintains a standing advisory urging American citizens to exercise increased caution throughout the municipality, with specific warnings about kidnapping and extortion.
The five detained suspects now face state-level prosecution. Under Baja California’s criminal code, kidnapping carries sentences of 20 to 40 years. The FGE has not yet released the suspects’ identities or confirmed whether the cases are connected. The Tijuana municipal government first reported the arrests on June 18.