EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Police in Juarez, Mexico, have arrested three men and a minor in connection with the alleged kidnapping of several Central American migrants a few blocks from the Rio Grande.
Residents early Tuesday called police to the Felipe Angeles neighborhood in north Juarez after allegedly hearing screams coming from inside a house. Officers who arrived at the home also heard the screams and forced their way in; they found six Guatemalan nationals and a Honduran who said they were being held there against their will, the Municipal Public Safety Secretary said in a statement.
Police searched the neighborhood and arrested four suspects identified by the Central Americans as their captors. The men only identified by police as Gustavo M.G., 21; Noe R.L., 20; Jerson P.R., 24; and a 15-year-old boy were taken into custody. A 9mm and a .40-caliber pistol were also found at the house.
A 9mm and a .40-caliber pistol were seized from four men allegedly involved in migrant kidnapping. (Juarez Municipal Police)
According to the municipal police, the Central Americans said they were migrants on their way to the United States and forced them into the home at gunpoint. The suspects allegedly told them to call relatives in the U.S. to pay an undisclosed ransom for their release.
The migrants were taken to a police station for medical care and then sent to a shelter, the city police said.
Earlier, Chihuahua state Public Safety Director Gilberto Loya said Juarez recorded 44 kidnapping cases, and “90% were migrants.”
The victims in most cases are taken off the streets by organized criminal groups shortly after they arrive in Juarez with the intent of crossing into the United States, Loya said. Criminals take the migrants to overcrowded “safe houses” where they are robbed of their money or told to ask relatives to wire money.
“These are vulnerable people and organized crime is taking an interest in them. (The criminals) engage in various illicit activities, including human trafficking,” Loya said.
(ProVideo in Juarez, Mexico, contributed to this report.)
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