NEW YORK: A truck carrying hundreds of new US visas has been hijacked in northern Mexico and the visas inside have been stolen, the U.S. Embassy in Mexico has confirmed.
The embassy said in a statement Wednesday that the theft occurred on June 7 ‘in northern Mexico,’ without specifying where.
The truck vanished in Matamoros, a city located on the southern bank of the Rio Grande directly across the border from Brownsville, Texas.
It was making a trip from the United States to U.S. Consulates in the cities of Monterrey and Guadalajara.
Some approved border crossing cards also were stolen.
An electronic alert has been issued so that the stolen cards cannot be used to cross the border.
The cards were re-issued for the intended holders, but they have also been advised of the robbery in case the cards are used in attempts at identity theft.
The US diplomatic mission warned that personal data in the applications could be used for criminal activities, Sputnik News reported.
Mexican police suspect that smugglers need the papers to traffic people illegally across the border.
