The Tamaulipas Prosecutor’s Office confirmed this Friday the arrest of six suspects in the kidnapping a week ago of four Americans -two of them murdered-, although it has not confirmed if they are the same people who were handed over by the Gulf Cartel, to which responsible for these crimes.
The Tamaulipas prosecutor, Irving Barrios Mojica, has reported that five people linked to the events that occurred on March 3 in the city of Matamoros were arrested for the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and intentional homicide, while a sixth person, “detained in days gone by”, has been implicated.
The day before, five men appeared tied up in the middle of the street in Matamoros, next to a truck in which they had left a note supposedly written by the ‘Escorpion’ group of the Gulf Cartel, apologizing for the events that occurred, assuring that these people “at all times they acted under their own determination and indiscipline.”
Mexican authorities suspect that the kidnapping of the four Americans over the weekend could be related to drugs, after learning that three of them have criminal records for trafficking, selling and possessing weapons in the United States. Thus, it is not the first time that they have crossed the border for reasons allegedly related to these suspicions.
Zindel Zaquille Mckinley Brown and Shaeed Hakim Woodard, the two fatalities of the kidnapping had a background related to drug manufacturing and trade, robbery with violence and possession of weapons. Their bodies have finally been repatriated in the last hours of Thursday.
For his part, Letavia Lateefa Washington, who was unharmed in the attack, appears in the police records for manufacturing and trafficking drugs, robbery and threatening an officer, while Eric James Williams, wounded by a gunshot, is the only one who has not criminal history.
According to the Mexican authorities, the four would have been intercepted by armed men from the Gulf Cartel, which maintains tight control of drug trafficking in Matamoros, to prevent them from operating in its territory. During the crossfire, a Mexican citizen died.
