Four US citizens missing in Mexico targeted by mistake

Four US residents who had been assaulted and kidnapped in north japanese Mexico on Friday are believed to have been focused by mistake, a US official with data of the investigation informed CNN, including the Americans had been in Mexico for medical procedures, in accordance with receipts discovered of their automobile.

Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador supplied the same rationalization, saying Monday the victims had crossed into the border metropolis of Matamoros to buy drugs.

“The information we have is that they crossed the border to buy medicines in Mexico, there was a confrontation between groups and they were detained,” the president mentioned, including, “The whole government is working on it.”

Four US citizens assaulted and kidnapped in Mexico. — The 4 US residents had been in Mexico for medical procedures. (9News)

The lacking Americans drove into Matamoros on Friday and had been fired upon by unidentified gunmen and had been “placed in a vehicle and taken from the scene by armed men,” a launch from the FBI in San Antonio mentioned.

The company didn’t establish the lacking victims, however it’s looking for the general public’s assist discovering them and figuring out these accountable.

The company introduced a reward of US$50,000 ($74,000) for his or her return and the arrest of these concerned.

Photos obtained by CNN present the automobile believed to have been pushed by the Americans crashed with one other automobile earlier than they had been taken at gunpoint from the scene.

The FBI wouldn’t verify the authenticity of the pictures, however CNN has confirmed the authenticity of the images and video with a US official with data of the investigation and has additionally geolocated the pictures.

The images obtained by CNN present a girl trying after which sitting subsequent to a few our bodies outdoors a white minivan. All the doorways of the van had been open.

The girl then seems to have been loaded onto the mattress of a white pickup truck, the images present. Several our bodies could possibly be seen on the road subsequent to the pickup truck, the images present.

One picture reveals that an ambulance arrived, but it surely’s unclear if medical consideration was being supplied.

The FBI mentioned it’s cooperating with different federal companions and Mexican legislation enforcement businesses to research the kidnapping.

CNN has reached out to the FBI for additional data on the victims and has additionally sought remark from the federal government of Tamaulipas, the Tamaulipas Secretary of Public Security’s workplace and the Mexican Attorney General’s Office.

Matamoros, a border metropolis of greater than 500,000 individuals within the Mexican state of Tamaulipas, simply throughout from Brownsville, Texas, has been wracked by violence and arranged crime at the least because the Mexican Drug War started in 2006.

The metropolis is residence to the Gulf Cartel, a once-powerful smuggling operation that has splintered into small, competing gangs, in accordance with the Congressional Research Service.

On the identical day because the alleged kidnappings, for instance, police issued a warning to oldsters to maintain their youngsters residence from college attributable to two shootings within the metropolis.

The US State Department has issued a “Level 4: Do Not Travel” advisory for US residents pondering of going to Tamaulipas, citing crime and kidnapping.

“Criminal groups target public and private passenger buses, as well as private automobiles traveling through Tamaulipas, often taking passengers and demanding ransom payments,” the State Department advisory says.

Matamoros was additionally the location of a giant tent encampment of migrants – principally Venezuelans and Haitians – hoping to cross into the US to request asylum.