At least eight police officers from Tamaulipas, a state in Mexico close to the U.S. border, are facing an investigation for their alleged involvement in the kidnapping of a local businessman, who was coerced into paying a ransom for his freedom.
This incident took place in May, but it wasn’t until this week that Carlos Arturo Pancaldo, the head of the Tamaulipas state police, publicly acknowledged the case and confirmed that the internal affairs department is looking into it. Additionally, the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office is conducting a separate investigation.
The officers, who were stationed in Reynosa, have been reassigned to the Ciudad Victoria police station while the inquiry is ongoing, as noted by Pancaldo. “They are not on duty,” he stated.
According to a statement from the victim’s attorney, Alfredo Compean, the officers belong to a tactical unit referred to as the GRI (Group of Rapid Response).
Family members of the victim reported that on the day he was kidnapped, the police forcibly took him into a car at gunpoint. They drove him to a remote dirt road, where he was beaten and threatened with death unless he paid $30,000. The family asserted that the businessman was then pressured into paying $10,000 weekly to operate in Reynosa. Allegedly, the officers also returned to his home and took money, jewelry, and clothing before letting him go. The victim mentioned that they stole around $7,000 from him.
This incident comes at a time when the Tamaulipas government has found itself in the spotlight due to controversies. Governor Americo Villarreal recently had his U.S. visa revoked amid allegations of connections to a fuel theft network and various criminal cartels. Villarreal hasn’t traveled to the United States for official purposes since the Trump administration began, while other governors from different states had often made such trips to encourage development and cross-border business. A report last year highlighted how the Gulf Cartel allegedly pressured voters in Tamaulipas to support Villarreal in his election.
