Matamoros policemen accused of extortion
Three Matamoros police officers were fired after an investigation into the brief kidnapping and extortion of an American couple coming out of a motel.
According to a report from the Municipal Comptrollers Office, officers Osiel Cruz Arriaga, Roberto Ochoa Borrego and Ricardo Alfredo Leal Guzman were accused of requesting $800 dollars in exchange for releasing the unidentified couple.
According to the report, after the agency confirmed the policemen’s role in the incident they were terminated.
“The police officers accused us of having an extramarital affair and threatened to take us to the municipal jail so they would take our photographs unless we gave them $800,” the complaint states.
Out of fear, the couple gave the officers the money and later went to the comptroller’s office to file the complaint.
Less than a month ago, motel owners denounced to local authorities that their customers were being accosted by municipal police officers who demanded various sums in U.S. dollars in exchange for their freedom.
According to the motel owners, the officers would wait for the customers to come out of the motels before using police vehicles to stop them and proceed with the alleged extortions.
