Three Mexican municipal police officers are behind bars as part of an investigation into the abduction of three people who went missing after a traffic stop. The incident took place in the western state of Michoacan.
This week, investigators with the Michoacan Attorney General’s Office (FGE) arrested three police officers from the city of Zamora as they continue searching for three kidnapping victims who have been missing since August 4. The three officers Rene (N), Miguel (N), and Ruben (N) remain behind bars as they await a court hearing.
According to a statement from the FGE, on the day of the abduction, police officers arrested three people identified only as Juan Carlos, Alicia Vanesa, and Marco Antonio.
The three were riding in a Jeep Grande Cherokee in the Fuentes neighborhood when authorities pulled them over, claiming they had made an improper turn. After the arrest, authorities took the victims to the local police station. They have remained missing since the arrest.
#FiscalíaMich en acción coordinada con @SEDENAmx, @CONASE_mx
y @SSeguridad_Mich detienen a tres elementos de la policía municipal de #Zamora, presuntos responsables de la #DesapariciónForzada de tres personas. ⬇ https://t.co/4f0B5YOe4d— Fiscalía General de Michoacán (@FiscaliaMich) September 19, 2023
The arrest of the three officers comes at a time when government officials have been unable to decrease cartel violence in the state. As Breitbart Texas reported, warring cartel factions continue to wage large-scale gun battles in the state’s rural areas. The cartels not only use armored vehicles but also explosives and weaponized drones. Similarly, warring cartel factions carried out numerous murders and kidnappings, targeted arsons, and some terror-style tactics inside larger cities like Morelia and Zamora.
Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City and the states of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and their original Spanish. This article was written by “E.F. Robles” from Jalisco and Jose Luis Lara from Michoacan.