The theft of foreigners’ passports is one of the criminal incidents that foreigners suffer the most, since they have problems, not having their identification; Robberies happen more when they leave their backpacks in cars.
The head of the Directorate of National and International Affairs of Solidarity, Isabelle Cailloux, clarified that within her competence, her job is to provide help to affected tourists, who are entrusted to the Center for Attention and Protection of Tourists (CAPTA), so that they can do the link with the consulate or embassy of the visitors, so that they can have in the meantime, an emergency passport or safe-conduct, depending on the country, that will help them to identify themselves.
The Solidaridad municipal official reported that a week she attends to an approximate number of 10 people (two a day), who have been robbed.
“Many are robbed (passport), few are the ones who can’t find it. They fly the next day and the same day, they can’t find it, so they come in an emergency and ask for replacement,” she reported.
Who is stealing the document? Isabelle Cailloux replied, “in fact, many of the cases that are reported to us, is that they leave their backpacks in the car, so it does get a bit complicated there. The important thing here is that they can do all the paperwork in one place.”
The head of the Directorate of National and International Affairs of Solidarity added that the affected tourists can also count on the Specialized Tourist Service Prosecutor, all in the same place, since they go to CAPTA, which is for tourism, as well as they approach the Prosecutor’s Office to give the report that they lost the document and obtain the attention of the National and International Affairs Directorate of the municipality so that they can put them in contact with their consulate.
Regarding what follow-up is being given to the crimes of theft of passports of foreign tourists, Isabelle Cailloux stated that this task is not the responsibility of her management, however, she pointed out that any document reported as stolen or lost, immediately that passport is already out of use, because the staff of the Directorate of National and International Affairs makes it known to the consulates, so that it can be invalidated.
Regarding this issue, Isabelle Cailloux mentioned that she will ask the consulates if they have any information about the investigation for this crime, which is committed against foreign tourists, “to be able to gather all these indicators, deliver them to the president to be able to see, if there is any point in common”, she outlined.
The official agreed that the passport is not only used so that tourists can return to their countries or travel to other destinations, but throughout Mexico, it is a document that serves as identification and is requested by various institutions.
Source: Por Esto
