The recent kidnapping of two teenagers in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas revealed the use of cloned police vehicles and uniforms by Gulf Cartel gunmen to carry out enforcement operations. The gunmen impersonated members of Mexico’s National Guard.
The kidnapping took place earlier this month in San Fernando — one of the cities hardest hit by an ongoing turf war between rival factions of the Gulf Cartel. Unlike the thousands of kidnappings and missing person cases in Tamaulipas, state investigators, in this case, found and rescued 17-year-old Erick Gonzalez Diego and his 15-year-old brother Miguel Angel after the two spent more than a week in the hands of their captors.
The case began on May 5 when the two brothers left their home to pick up food before going to work delivering water. The two rode in a motorcycle when a group of gunmen passing themselves off a Mexican National Guardsmen stopped them. Instead of a typical traffic stop, the gunmen kidnapped them and later beat them.
Relatives of the teens reported them missing to the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office. On May 14, a special operations group with the Tamaulipas police was able to track down the teens and rescue them as a group of gunmen was moving them in the trunk of a sedan. At the time of the rescue, authorities found a rifle and a radio. It remains unclear if authorities arrested or charged any gunmen in connection to the crime.
As Breitbart Texas has reported, San Fernando is a hotspot for violence as rival factions of the Gulf Cartel began a fierce turf war in recent weeks. That struggle manifested itself in several large-scale gunbattles in rural areas where gunmen used dozens of armored vehicles. Despite the numerous shootouts, government officials claim that the region is safe.
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 “C.P. Mireles” and “Francisco Morales” from Tamaulipas.
