Mexican authorities formally charged two suspected members of the Gulf Cartel with kidnapping 47 people and holding them prisoner in two stash houses in the border city of Reynosa.
The case began when state police forces received an anonymous tip about kidnapping victims being held in a stash house behind a hotel, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Mexican Attorney General’s Office revealed.
When authorities conducted a surveillance operation in the San Miguel neighborhood in Reynosa, they spotted a man waving for help from inside one of the houses. Authorities rushed to the house and arrested one man who had been holding several victims against their will.
Authorities also arrested the security guard for the neighborhood, since he appears to have been acting as a lookout for the cartel members.
One of the kidnap victims told authorities that more captives were held at another house in the Arcoiris (Rainbow) neighborhood. State and federal authorities conducted another rescue operation, which freed 29 Mexican kidnapping victims, plus 18 victims who appear to be illegal immigrants from other nationalities. The 18 illegal immigrants were turned over to Mexican immigration authorities.
The two suspects in the case have since been moved to a federal prison in the Mexican state of Veracruz to await trial.