Marines rescue ex-Reynosa mayor, son
Mexican marines rescued Reynosa’s former mayor and his son in Ciudad Victoria, several days after members of the Zetas kidnapped them, the government announced Friday.
The Mexican Navy said that marines on the ground and with air support found the former mayor, Humberto Valdez Richaud, 51, and his son, José Humberto Valdez Morales, 20, on Thursday in a safe house.
The navy noted that four members of the Zetas drug cartel were detained in connection with the kidnappings. The statement notes that the former mayor and his son were kidnapped at different times.
The suspects were identified as 21-year-old Oswaldo Galván Falcón, alias, "El Balín;" 18-year-old Edwin Alain Esparza Martínez, alias, "El Güero; " 31-year-old Eliseo Arellano Ávila, alias, "El Pacheco;" and 20-year-old Guillermo Olivo Rodríguez, alias, "El Memo."
Marines also seized four weapons, six magazines, and 187 rounds of ammunition.
In a separate case, federal police said that they rescued a kidnapped victim that was being held in the trunk of a Volkswagen and detained four suspected kidnappers on Friday.
Federal police were patrolling and surveilling the highway system near the settlement of El Recodo in the state of Tamaulipas when they saw a red Volkswagen with four armed subjects that tried to evade police by traveling toward Ciudad Victoria.
The subjects were intercepted and when police searched the vehicle, they found a man, approximately 25 years old, who said that he had been held for several days.
The suspects were identified as 25-year-old Edén Martínez Castro, alias, "La Rubia," who provided radio-communication equipment to a group of informants called "halcones." The halcones in this case report on the whereabouts of law enforcement and rival groups in Ciudad Victoria for a criminal organization.
The other detainees were identified as 23-year-old Eduardo Zacarías López, alias "El Veracruz;" 20-year-old David Isidoro Aguilera del Valle; and 20-year-old Édgar Antonio Villela Martínez. The criminal organization was not named.
Federal police also seized two AK-47s, 23 magazines, 204 rounds of ammunition, 13 portable chargers, four mobile telephone systems, two radio-communication systems, other effects, and the Volkswagen, which had been reported stolen.
The military reported that on Saturday, troops rescued 20 kidnapped victims in Monterrey, Nuevo Leon.
Information that the military received led them to a safe house where they located the victim and a suspected kidnapper. The suspected kidnapper was not identified.
The military did say that items seized included two weapons, three bulletproof vests and a vehicle.
In another operation, the military said that Javier Abarte Arreaga, alias, "La Jaiba," and a member of the Zetas was detained Sunday in Santiago, Nuevo Leon.
According to its statement, the military said that Abarte is suspected of participating in the murder Santiago’s Mayor Edelmiro Cavazos Leal in August 2010.
The military also seized a vehicle, a weapon and nine rounds of ammunition.
