Mexican police rescued two U.S. citizens who were kidnapped in Mexico. Ministerial Police in the border city of Nogales, Sonora, freed the kidnapped Americans during a police rescue operation. The operation resulted in the arrest of two kidnappers.
Two kidnap victims identified as, Anel “N.”, 40, and Germán “N.”, 38, both U.S. citizens from Tucson, Arizona, were rescued after Ministerial Police (FGJE) developed intelligence information as to their whereabouts. The police used the information to launch a rescue operation executed by criminal investigators (AMIC) at a residence in colonia Villa Sonora located in the Mexican border city of Nogales. Officials with the U.S. Embassy in Mexico City tipped off Ministerial police about the kidnapping after the victim’s relatives who reside in Tucson, Arizona filed a kidnapping report.
According to the kidnapping complaint filed by the victim’s family, the kidnappers demanded $15,000 USD (more than $286,000 Mexican pesos) for the release of the two victims. They reportedly threatened to kill the U.S. citizens if the ransom was not paid, according to local media reports. The two kidnap victims were allegedly kidnapped in the Mexican city of Nogales which sits directly south of the U.S.– Mexico international border from Nogales, Arizona.
During the rescue operation, investigators determined the general area of where the victims were being held based on intelligence they developed. As investigators approached the residence where the victims were being held, the two victims spotted ministerial agents outside of the residence and began to yell for help. The agents entered the residence and freed the two kidnap victims. They arrested two kidnappers who were watching over the victims and preventing them from leaving. Police identified the two kidnappers as Luis Alberto “N”, aged 22, and Jesús Esteban “N.”, aged 17. Officials turned the two kidnapping suspects over to the investigative staff of the state attorney general’s office for determination of criminal charges pertaining to the crime of kidnapping.
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.