IRAPUATO, Mexico, Dec 6, 2019 (BSS/AFP) – Gunmen kidnapped 23 people from a
rehabilitation clinic for drug addicts in central Mexico, later freeing 13 of
them, some with injuries, officials said Thursday.
Witnesses said the large group of gunmen arrived at the rehab clinic in
Irapuato, in the state of Guanajuato, in several vehicles on Wednesday and
stormed the facility.
“We have the names of 23 (victims), of whom 13 have since reappeared and 10
are still missing,” Guanajuato prosecutor Carlos Zamarripa told journalists.
“Some of them are injured and have, understandably, been very reluctant to
talk about what happened.”
Guanajuato, an industrial and tourism hub, has been increasingly hit by the
violent crime sweeping much of Mexico.
President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has been struggling to rein in the
violence, largely blamed on Mexico’s powerful drug cartels.
His government has suffered a string of bad news on the security front
recently, including the massacre of nine women and children from a US-Mexican
Mormon community and a botched attempt to arrest the son of jailed drug
kingpin Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.