Four people suspected of 19 kidnappings held in Mexico
March 28th, 2011 - 12:20 pm ICT by IANSMexico City, March 28 (IANS/EFE) Four people suspected of belonging to a gang that kidnapped at least 19 people have been arrested here, authorities said.
The four suspected Los Tartas gang members were arrested Friday during an operation launched by the Federal Police in the Guadalupe Tepeyac neighbourhood of the borough of Gustavo A. Madero, the Public Safety Secretariat said.
The gang operated in the capital and in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area.
The gang’s leaders - Luis Antonio Flores Gomez, who used the alias Marco Antonio Trejo Luna, and Edgar David Morales Robledo - were arrested in the operation, the secretariat said.
Two other members of the gang, identified as Heidi Barragan Lucas, 31, and Jose Luis Rosas Vilchis, 45, were also detained.
Barragan Lucas and Rosas Vilchis were in charge of “guarding and feeding” kidnapping victims, the secretariat said.
The gang took victims to different houses, “where they remained in captivity for up to 45 days”, the secretariat said.
Gang members “put the victims in touch with relatives by telephone and sent videos of the victims, as well as personal items, to them in an effort to get the money they were asking for”, the secretariat said.
Police seized a 9 mm pistol, 10 cell phones, and three vehicles.
The four suspects were turned over to federal prosecutors.
Los Tartas abducted 19 people, including a 21-year-old student kidnapped Sep 24 in Mexico City and an 11-year-old boy kidnapped in April 2010.
–IANS/EFE
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