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By THE PULSE NEWS MEXICO STAFF

In a new twist on transnational organized crime, Mexican authorities have discovered that at least one cartel group is now kidnapping people in Mexico and collecting ransom payments in Colombia.

Mexico’s Security and Citizen Protection Secretariat (SSPC) reported Monday, Feb. 28, that this modus operandi has been used in at least four alleged kidnappings in the last month.

In a press release, the SSPC said that, after a formal complaint was launched before the Specialized Unit to Combat Kidnapping (UECS), intelligence work was carried out that indicated that the ransom demands for these four Mexicans were made from Colombia.

Consequently, the press release said, Mexico’s federal Attorney General’s Office (FGR) has asked for international legal assistance to coordinate actions between Mexican authorities, the Colombian National Police and the U.S. Department of Justice.

“Information was obtained to locate the probable kidnappers in (the Mexican state of) Sinaloa, for which an inter-institutional operation was coordinated that resulted in their arrest in compliance with a warrant,” the SSPC said.

Simultaneously, it said, one of the four kidnap victims was released — apparently in good health — during a police sting attack in Uruapan, Michoacán.