According to a new government report kidnapping in Mexico has risen 317 percent in the last five years.
An average of 3.72 kidnap cases are now reported every day in Mexico, says a report issued by a security committee in the House of Representatives, according to El Universal.
Most kidnappings are concentrated in eight states: Mexico, the Federal District, Guanajuato, Michoacan, Guerrero, Chihuahua, Baja California and Tamaulipas.
The government report painted a picture of the profile of an "average kidnapper," according to El Universal. The average age of the abductor is 31 years old, and 22 percent were a member of the Armed Forces or police at some point.
Under Mexico's Anti-Kidnapping Law, passed in October 2010, the maximum sentence for a kidnapping that results in death is 70 years. The House of Representatives is seeking to increase that sentence to life imprisonment after 2010 registered a new record in kidnappings in Mexico, with close to 2,000 cases officially reported.
A recent report by Colombian non-profit Pais Libre found that seven out of ten kidnappings worldwide occur in Latin American countries. That report indicated that between 2005 and 2009, a kidnapping occurred every three hours somewhere in Latin America.
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