Mexico ( Police Rescue 7 Captives in Mexico City )

 

MEXICO CITY – Seven people being held captive were rescued and four suspected kidnappers were arrested by police in Mexico City, Federal District Public Safety Secretary Jesus Rodriguez Almeida said.

Police staged the rescue operation early Saturday in the Narvarte district, Rodriguez Almeida said.

The captives – five adults and two children – are all originally from Tampico, a port city in the Gulf state of Tamaulipas.

The group was taken from their house in the Mexico City borough of Xochimilco, Rodriguez Almeida said.

One of the captives was hospitalized for treatment of a gunshot wound, the police chief said.

Officers seized four firearms and three vehicles from the suspects, Rodriguez Almeida said.

Police turned the suspects and the victims over to the anti-kidnapping unit of the Federal District Attorney’s Office, which will conduct the investigation.

The federal government unveiled a new strategy to deal with kidnappings in January.

A total of 1,695 kidnappings were reported in Mexico last year, up 20 percent from the 2012 level, National Public Safety System figures show.

An unknown number of kidnappings, however, are never reported.