Summary Suspects had received 10 days of training when they were captured in the towns of San Juan.
GUADALAJARA (AFP) - A Mexican drug cartel used a fake security company to recruit hitmen and traffickers in a western state plagued by violence, authorities said Wednesday.
Eleven men and a child were detained after they responded to an advertisement offering work with the company and were recruited by a US woman in the Pacific resort of Puerto Vallarta, prosecutors said.
When they were detained, the men and boy were carrying cocaine and crystal meth, according to Jalisco state chief prosecutor Eduardo Almaguer.
The group had been working as cleaners and parking attendants when they responded to the job offer from the Jalisco New Generation drug cartel, Almaguer said.
"The criminals distribute pamphlets in the street. They give them to people to recruit them and get them into the ranks of organized crime by giving them one-week training, notably on the use of weapons," he said.
The suspects had received 10 days of training when they were captured in the towns of San Juan de los Lagos and Lagos de Moreno following a complaint about a kidnapping.
The abductee was a man who had responded to the job ad but then refused to work for the cartel.
The security firm sought people with police experience and it offered higher salaries starting at $150 per week for work as security guards.
The New Generation drug cartel has become one of the most powerful in the country, with connections in Asia and Europe and weaponry that includes rocket launchers, which they used to bring down a military helicopter last year.
