Security Forces Thwart Kidnapping of 4 Youths in Mexico

VERACRUZ, Mexico – A group of gunmen abducted four youths in the Mexican Gulf coast city of Veracruz, but the victims were rescued soon afterward thanks to a security operation, authorities said.

The four young men were led away Thursday by four or five men armed with handguns, according to eyewitnesses and family members of the victims.

But the youths were rescued around three hours later thanks to a security operation that involved blocking access roads to the port city, Veracruz state Gov. Javier Duarte de Ochoa said.

“As a result of an intense security operation, ‘Safe Veracruz’ forces rescued the four Veracruz youths safe and sound,” the governor wrote on Twitter, adding that the victims underwent a medical checkup after being rescued to “assess their state of health.”

The federal government launched “Operation Safe Veracruz” several years ago in an effort to stem drug-related violence in the Gulf coast state.

The governor said authorities were still trying to track down the perpetrators, who burst into a taco restaurant in the tourist zone of Veracruz to kidnap the youths.

One of the young people fled and took refuge inside his father’s establishment, but the criminals found him and abducted him as well.

Surveillance footage broadcast by local media shows the group of gunmen – all dressed in civilian garb – pointing guns at the restaurant’s employees, grabbing one of the youths by the neck and leading him out of the establishment face-down.

Five other young people were kidnapped on Jan. 11 in Tierra Blanca, a municipality in that same state.

Those individuals were arrested by state police at a gas station and handed over to a drug cartel, according to the official investigation.

Officials said this week that DNA tests confirmed that charred human remains found at a ranch in Veracruz state were those of two of the five young people, but family members have challenged the investigators’ findings and called for additional genetic testing.