Two of the seven state police officers kidnapped last week near Monterrey, the capital of Mexico’s Nuevo Leon state, have been released, a State Investigations Agency, or AEI, spokesman said.
The officers, who were tortured and beaten, were found early Sunday in Contry, a neighborhood in the southern section of Monterrey.
The two officers were thrown out of a moving vehicle, eyewitnesses said.
The officers were taken to a hospital and are under guard, the AEI spokesman said.
The other five officers kidnapped on Friday at the intersection of Benito Juarez avenue and Lerdo de Tejada street have also been released, media reports said.
Officials, however, have not confirmed the officers’ release.
The seven police officers were kidnapped by several SUV-loads of men armed with assault rifles who intercepted two state police vehicles and forced the officers to surrender, eyewitnesses said.
The two bullet-riddled police vehicles were found several hours later in Guadalupe, a Monterrey suburb.
The mass abduction occurred a few hours after two gunmen were killed and two others arrested in a clash with state police in Monterrey, and it followed the army’s arrest here Thursday of six traffic cops on suspicion of ties to organized crime.
The wave of drug-related violence in Nuevo Leon left about 75 police officers, including several commanders and chiefs, dead in 2010.
More than 50 attacks have been staged in recent months on law enforcement personnel and facilities in Nuevo Leon, which borders Texas.
Officials blame the violence on a fierce turf battle between the Gulf and Los Zetas drug cartels that has raged since March 2010.
Clashes among rival cartels and between criminals and the security forces have claimed some 35,000 lives in Mexico since December 2006, when newly inaugurated President Felipe Calderon militarized the struggle against the drug trade.
Until last year, however, drug-war mayhem was rare in Greater Monterrey, home to more than 4 million people and the headquarters of many of Mexico’s leading corporations.
Source: EFE
Amazing they were released alive. I hope not too damaged.
ReplyDeleteFrom what I understand the 7 state police officers picked up late Thursday/early Friday are STILL missing.
ReplyDeleteAlthough authorities believed these two police were part of the seven kidnapped, it was later found these two police were picked up Saturday afternoon in a separate attack. (according to reports)
http://www.milenio.com/node/668716
http://www.lapoliciaca.com/nota-roja/rescatan-a-dos-policias-de-nl-los-secuestraron-y-torturaron/
6 police from Guadalupe have been detained by the state investigative agency for their possible involvement in the "kidnapping". Another 6-8 police have not shown up to work since the investigations began.
http://www.radioformula.com.mx/notas.asp?Idn=161615
DAMN, WHAT FUCKING CORRUPTION THERE IS IN MEXICO!
ReplyDelete