Mexican authorities announced on Friday the arrest of five people suspected of involvement in the kidnapping a week ago of four Americans and the murder of two of them in Matamoros, in the northeast of the country.
These are the five men that alleged members of the Gulf Cartel (CDG) allegedly abandoned on a street in Matamoros on Thursday, accusing them of carrying out the kidnapping without the authorization of their leaders within this criminal organization, a source from the prosecution told AFP.
Earlier, Tamaulipas State Attorney Irving Barrios tweeted that he had “executed an arrest warrant for five people connected to the March 3 events in Matamoros for the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and voluntary homicide “.
A letter of apology
On Thursday, local media reported, without official confirmation, that the Gulf Cartel issued a letter of apology for the kidnapping and two murders and handed over the alleged perpetrators to authorities. Until now, the Mexican prosecutor’s office had only reported the arrest of a single suspect, who stood guard near the kidnapped people.
The four Americans had crossed the border at the wheel of a white minivan registered in North Carolina before being targeted by gunfire, then kidnapped by armed men in the border town of Matamoros. The Mexican authorities quickly evoked the hypothesis of a “misunderstanding”.
Of the four Americans abducted, two died and two were later found, one with gunshot wounds and the other unharmed, on the outskirts of Matamoros. A Mexican bystander was also killed in the exchange of gunfire. The bodies of the two dead Americans were repatriated to the United States on Thursday, authorities said.