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Some 50 migrants kidnapped by gang in Mexico, president says

Published:Wednesday | May 17, 2023 | 3:11 PM
Migrants stand on the Mexican side of the U.S.-Mexico border, on the banks of the Rio Grande, in Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, March 29, 2023. About 50 migrants have been kidnapped by a gang in northern Mexico, the latest in a series of mass abductions, President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said Wednesday, May 17, 2023. (AP Photo/Fernando Llano, File)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — A busload of about 50 migrants were kidnapped by a gang in northern Mexico in the latest of a series of mass abductions, though nine were later found, Mexico's president and police said Wednesday.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said National Guard troops were searching for the migrants in an area around the northern city of Matehuala.

The migrants had been travelling north toward the US border in a bus from the southern state of Chiapas, when the vehicle, passengers and drivers were abducted.

“They have already found some,” López Obrador said at his morning news briefing.

“Originally, there were reports of 50,” he said of the total number of victims, without specifying how many had been located. “We hope to rescue them,” he added.

Nine migrants — six men and three women — were found Tuesday near a highway in the state of Nuevo Leon, the state police department reported.

Police did not say whether they had been freed or escaped.

The migrants from Venezuela and Honduras were found wandering in a rural area, asking for help.

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