Mexico ( Authorities Arrest 12 Kidnappers in Mexico )

MEXICO CITY – Authorities arrested 12 suspected kidnappers and rescued two captives in separate operations in Mexico, officials said.

Federal Police officers arrested three suspected kidnappers, including a minor, in central Mexico and rescued a 14-year-old who had been abducted last month, the National Security Commission said.

The operation was conducted in the city of Huixquilucan, thanks to a tip from the public.

Huixquilucan is in Mexico state, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area.

Luis Eduardo Gaviño Chavez, 32, who handled negotiations and collected ransom payments, Ignacio Leyva Maldonado, 40, and an unidentified minor were arrested, officials said.

State authorities, meanwhile, arrested nine suspected kidnappers, including seven Nigerians, and rescued a teenage girl abducted on June 20 in Mexico state.

Relatives of the 16-year-old victim, who was kidnapped outside her family’s house in the city of Nextlalpan, contacted authorities, the Mexico state Attorney General’s Office said.

The victim was taken to a house in the city of Zumpango and the kidnappers contacted her family to demand a ransom payment, the AG’s office said.

Police arrested two suspects, one of whom is a minor, when they tried to collect the ransom and were led to the house where the victim was being held, the AG’s office said.

Officers arrested the other seven suspects, all Nigerians, the AG’s office said.

The Nigerians went to Mexico “some time ago (to work) for a computer repair company that no longer exists,” the AG’s office said in a statement.