(Picture: Tamaulipas State Police/Reuters/AP/ Facebook)
Mexican authorities have arrested five more people in connection with the kidnappings of four Americans in Matamoros.
The five additional arrests were announced by Tamaulipas Attorney General Irving Barrios Mojica on Friday. It brings the number of people apprehended in the case to six, Mojica confirmed.
‘The Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office (#FGJT) performed an arrest warrant against 5 people linked to the events of March 3 in Matamoros, for the crimes of aggravated kidnapping and intentional simple homicide,’ tweeted Mojica.
‘One more person who was arrested in recent days, was linked to the process.’
It comes a day after the Gulf Cartel’s Scorpion squad claimed responsibility for the March 3 attack on the Americans who traveled to Mexico for a cosmetic surgery procedure. The squad also surrendered five of its members and apologized.
The squad wrote in a letter to law enforcement that they ‘decided to turn over those who were directly involved and responsible’. The five members ‘acted under their own decision-making and lack of discipline’, states the letter obtained by The Associated Press on Thursday.
Armed men abducted Latavia McGee, Shaeed Woodard, Zindell Brown and Eric James Williams shortly after they crossed the border from Brownsville, Texas, into Mexico.
They were found in a house in Ejido Longoreño just east of Matamoros. Woodard and Brown were discovered dead. McGee and Williams were found alive and transported to a hospital in Texas on Wednesday.
After forensic examinations, the bodies of Woodward and Brown were returned to American diplomats on Thursday, Mojica said.
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The bodies of the two Americans who were killed have been returned to American diplomats.