Cartel gunmen pose as federal police during kidnapping in border state in Mexico
The recent kidnapping of two teenagers in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas revealed the use of cloned police vehicles and uniforms by Gulf Cartel gunmen to carry out crackdown operations. The gunmen posed as members of the Mexican National Guard.
The kidnapping took place earlier this month in San Fernando, one of the cities hardest hit by an ongoing turf war between rival factions of the Gulf Cartel. Unlike the thousands of kidnapping and missing person cases in Tamaulipas, state investigators in this case found and rescued 17-year-old Erick Gonzalez Diego and his 15-year-old brother Miguel Angel after the two spent more than a week in the hands of their captors.
The case began on May 5 when the two brothers left their home to collect food before going to work to deliver water. The two were riding motorcycles when a group of armed men posing as a Mexican National Guard stopped them. Instead of a typical traffic check, the gunmen kidnapped them and then beat them.
Relatives of the teens reported them missing to the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office. On May 14, a special ops group with Tamaulipas police were able to track down the teens and rescue them as a group of gunmen moved them into the trunk of a sedan. At the time of the rescue, authorities found a rifle and a radio. It remains unclear whether authorities have arrested or charged any gunmen in connection with the crime.
As Breitbart Texas reported, San Fernando is a hotbed of violence as rival factions of the Gulf Cartel have engaged in a fierce turf war in recent weeks. This struggle manifested itself in several large-scale shootings in rural areas where gunmen used dozens of armored vehicles. Despite the numerous shootings, government officials say the area is safe.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels that silence their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in these regions, including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas, if a pseudonym was not used. Chronicles of the Breitbart Texas Cartel are published in English and in their original version Spanish. This article was written by “CP Mireles” and “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas.
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