MEXICO CITY: According to state prosecutors, a cartel in the embattled central Mexico state of Michoacan established its own makeshift Internet antennas and informed locals that they had to pay in order to use its WiFi service, or else they would be killed, on Wednesday (Jan 3).
Termed “narco-antennas” by local media, the cartel’s system involved Internet antennas set up in various towns, assembled with stolen equipment.
The group charged around 5,000 people inflated prices, ranging between 400 and 500 pesos (US$25 to US$30/RM115 to RM139) a month, as reported by the Michoacán state prosecutor’s office to The Associated Press. This meant that the group could potentially earn roughly US$150,000 (RM695,850) a month.
Prosecutors said that people were terrorised “to contract the Internet services at excessive costs, under the claim that they would be killed if they did not,” although they did not report any deaths of this nature occurring.
While prosecutors declined to name the cartel involved because the case was still under investigation, local media identified the criminal group as the Los Viagras cartel. However, they confirmed that Los Viagras dominates the towns that were forced to make the WiFi payments.
Law enforcement confiscated the equipment late last week and released photos of the makeshift antennas and piles of equipment and routers with the labels of the Mexican Internet company Telmex, owned by powerful Mexican businessman Carlos Slim. They also apprehended an individual.
Mexican cartels have traditionally utilized a clandestine network of radio towers and makeshift Internet to communicate within criminal organizations and evade authorities.
Yet, according to Falko Ernst, Mexico analyst for Crisis Group, the utilization of such towers to extort communities is part of a larger trend in the country.
Ernst pointed out that the approximately 200 armed criminal groups active in Mexico are no longer solely focused on drug trafficking, but are also “becoming de facto monopolists of certain services and other legal markets.” He emphasized that as cartels have gained firmer control of large swaths of Mexico, they have effectively established “fiefdoms.”
Ernst further explained that in some areas, gangs are imposing taxes on basic foods and imported products, in addition to infiltrating Michoacan’s profitable avocado business, lime markets, and segments of local mining industries.
“It’s really become sort of like an all around game for them. And it’s not specific to any particular good or market anymore. It’s become about holding territory through violence,” he said. “It’s not solely about drugs anymore.” – AP
