Authorities arrested two human traffickers on kidnapping charges in the Mexican border city of Piedras Negras in Coahuila state after rescuing two migrants who were being held for ransom.
The incident occurred this week when investigators from the Coahuila State Prosecutor’s Investigative Police searched a home near Piedras Negras where two Honduran migrants were being forcibly held. Authorities said traffickers had demanded they send $2,000 to a relative in exchange for their release.
At the time of the investigation, authorities arrested two men, identified only as Braulio N. and Felipe N. They are being held on kidnapping charges and await further hearing in the case. Two other individuals were in custody at the time of the investigation, but were subsequently released on procedural charges.
At the time of the arrests, northern Coahuila was one of the traffickers’ favorite routes for transporting migrants and asylum seekers to Texas, and the city of Piedras Negras was home to more than a dozen independent trafficking groups operating in the area.
Human trafficking is a federal offense in Mexico, but federal and military authorities rarely crack down on these rings. State authorities, who don’t include trafficking in state law, can only take action when other crimes, like kidnapping, rape or abuse, are committed against migrants.
Editor’s note: Breitbart Texas traveled to Mexico City, Tamaulipas, Coahuila and Nuevo Leon to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives to expose the cartels that are silencing their communities. If they did not use pseudonyms, the reporters would surely face death at the hands of the various cartels operating in these regions, including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas. Breitbart Texas Cartel Record Published in both English and the original SpanishThis article was written by “JM Martinez” and C.E. Herrera from Coahuila.
