2024-01-05 13:07:34
Mexican authorities have rescued 31 migrants who were kidnapped by bus-ranching gunmen in Mexico over the weekend.
C. Roubini Chinnapa9 CTC, Vatican News
Gunmen hijacked a bus of migrants on Saturday on the highway between the border cities of Reynosa and Matamoros in Tamaulipas state. After forcing thirty-six people out, thirty-one of them were dragged at gunpoint into five waiting cars.
Migrants from Venezuela, Colombia, Honduras, Ecuador and Mexico were abducted. The Mexican government launched an extensive search and rescue operation involving 650 police, soldiers and the National Guard. The search was intensified with the use of drones, trained search dogs, communication experts through cellular phones and other surveillance equipment.
It was not said how the migrants were rescued, but the possibility that the kidnappers fled in the face of the speed of such a comprehensive investigation cannot be ruled out. Their plan to extort ransom money from their relatives failed.
On Monday, another bus heading to Matamoros was intercepted by gunmen and five people were kidnapped and later rescued by the National Guard. Two rival factions of the Gulf drug cartel are now battling for control across the troubled region. In 2019, 22 people were caught from a bus in this region. They were never seen again. Nine years ago, seventy-two Central and South American migrants were massacred for refusing to work for the Zetas drug cartel.
1704462937
#Migrants #kidnapped #Mexico #freed #Vatican #News