Five Kidnapped Venezuelans Freed In Mexico

Mexican security services have freed five Venezuelans kidnapped over the weekend by gunmen, local authorities said.

Report says the security services are still searching for another 26 people snatched from a bus traveling to the border city of Matamoros.

The bus was intercepted on Saturday on the Reynosa-Matamoros route in the northern state of Tamaulipas, with 31 of the 36 people on board kidnapped, a spokesman at the state’s security office who requested anonymity said.

Meanwhile, the spokesman did not give details on the five on board who were not kidnapped or the motive of the crime. Kidnappers often demand ransoms from their victims’ families.

Members of Mexico’s National Guard freed the five Venezuelans after their kidnappers fled the vehicle in which they were transporting the migrants, the state’s security body said in a statement.

The Venezuelans told the authorities they were part of the group kidnapped over the weekend. Officials have said they are still investigating the crime.

REUTERS/Christopher Ojilere