Kidnapped Mexico City Bank Employee Forced to Wear Explosive Belt During Robbery

Criminals in Mexico City devised a brazen method to force a female bank employee to steal $14 million pesos while wearing an explosive belt.

During the morning hours of May 29, a BBVA Bancomer branch employee was traveling in her vehicle to work before she became blocked by a minibus.

According to the local prosecutor’s office, armed individuals exited the bus and forced her into a second vehicle. Kidnappers reportedly said her family was under active surveillance and threatened their safety if she did not comply with orders. The suspects put an explosive belt on her and threatened to detonate it.

Using a video call, she was instructed to steal money from the bank vault and ATM. The employee was forced to ask a male colleague to deactivate security systems. The teller was also ordered to put money into plastic bags and return them to the getaway vehicle.

Ten minutes after the cash was loaded, the belt was removed from the female victim. The explosive device was later found dumped in a vacant lot. It was eventually deactivated by Mexican Army techs.

BBVA Bancomer later released a statement noting their employee was unharmed and the stolen money was originally earmarked for loading into ATMs. The investigation remains active, according to the Public Ministry Prosecutors Office.

While this event ended with no one injured, it is not the first of its kind and is reminiscent of a bank robbery in the United States. In 2003, an Erie, Pennsylvania, pizza delivery man named Brian Wells was murdered with an explosive collar around his neck. The device detonated in the presence of live local television cameras.

Wells was later determined by the FBI to be an active participant in the bank plot. However, he was told the bomb was fake. A federal grand jury indicted several co-conspirators in 2008. The case inspired the Netflix docuseries Evil Genius.

Jaeson Jones is a retired Captain from the Texas Department of Public Safety’s Intelligence and Counterterrorism Division and a Breitbart Texas contributor. While on duty, he managed daily operations for the Texas Rangers Border Security Operations Center.