13 Suspected Kidnappers Arrested in Central Mexico

MEXICO CITY – The Federal Police arrested 13 suspected kidnappers who operated in the capital and the central state of Mexico, which surrounds the Federal District and forms part of the Mexico City metropolitan area, and are subjects in 10 investigations, the Government Secretariat said Thursday.

Federal Police officers launched an operation on May 8 in Valle de Chalco, a city in Mexico state, where they arrested 13 suspects, the secretariat said in a statement.

Cristian Versay, 22, and Ricardo Gomez, 23, have been identified as the gang’s leaders, the secretariat said.

The suspects face organized crime, drug and firearms charges.

The arrests were made as part of an investigation launched earlier this year that identified a gang that targeted people between the ages of 20 and 40 in the eastern part of Mexico state and in the Federal District, the secretariat said.

Officers seized a rifle, a revolver, 100 kilos of a substance believed to be marijuana and three vehicles from the suspects, the secretariat said.

“Cellular telephony gear presumably used to call the relatives of victims and items belonging to the people they held captive were seized from the suspects,” the secretariat said