Mexican Federal Police, along with elements of the Navy, rescued an 18-year-old kidnapping victim and arrested eight members of the responsible gang earlier this week in the popular tourist port city of Guaymas, Sonora.
The victim was rescued during a joint security operation after a kidnapping complaint was reported by the victim’s family. Security forces launched an investigation and developed intelligence information on the possible whereabouts of the victim, who was being held for an undisclosed ransom.
When police focused on a single location in Guaymas, a rescue operation executed by criminal investigators and elements of the Mexican Navy began. A vehicle believed to have been used in the commission of the kidnapping was spotted entering the building to potentially transfer the woman. A tactical entry was performed and the victim was rescued without a shot fired. A total of eight members of a suspected kidnapping gang were arrested in possession of five rifles, six handguns, 25 magazines, tactical equipment, and uniforms without markings, according to local media and Breitbart News law enforcement sources.
The eight kidnappers were turned over to the federal prosecutor’s office for determination of criminal charges.
Breitbart’s Cartel Chronicles has covered the cartel presence and related attacks on police in Sonora, which shares a border with Arizona. Just before Easter, the commander of the tourist police in Guaymas survived an attempt on his life. In February, cartel gunmen murdered a police chief from a small town bordering the port of San Carlos Bay in Guaymas. In October 2018, five police officers were murdered during two separate attacks in the area.
In August 2018, more than 200 federal and state police personnel, supported by elements of the Mexican Army, were deployed to once tourist-friendly Guaymas amid violence and threats of a cartel war. A security alert was issued by the U.S. consulate in Hermosillo, prohibiting federal employees from traveling to the popular tourist zones in San Carlos, Guaymas, and Empalme. Concerns were raised over the presumed murder of three operatives belonging to “Los Salazar” within the Sinaloa Cartel. They were vacationing when they were arrested by municipal police. The trio was handed over to a rival criminal group.
Los Salazar reportedly issued an order to retaliate against the Guaymas police for the presumed murder of their operatives.
Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.) You can follow him on Twitter. He can be reached at robertrarce@gmail.com
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