Fourteen Mexican federales have been arrested for running a kidnapping crew that had been targeting Mexican businessmen near the Texas border.
The Mexican Army arrested the fourteen agents and rescued the businessman this week in the border city of Matamoros, according to information released to Breitbart Texas by Mexican federal investigators.
In recent months, federal agents and military forces have been deployed to the border cities of Matamoros and Reynosa in an effort to put down a war within the Gulf Cartel, as two rival factions continue to fight for control.
While Mexican prosecutors have not released any official information on the case, the information provided to Breitbart Texas shows that the federales had kidnapped a businessman who owns a construction company and hotels in the city and demanded a $2 million ransom. While the man’s family was preparing to deliver the ransom, they contacted the Mexican army, who set up an operation to capture the kidnapping crew, not realizing at first they were actually federal police officers.
When the soldiers carried out the operation, they disarmed the agents and whisked them away under guard to the city of Reynosa. The federales are expected to be formally charged with a number of offenses soon. A Mexican federal law enforcement official who spoke with Breitbart Texas said they were looking into a possible tie between the 14 agents and one of the warring factions of the Gulf Cartel.