The Mexican cartel finds five members who kidnapped four Americans

A Mexican cartel extradited five of its members who allegedly kidnapped four Americans – including two murdered – and shot dead an innocent bystander in the northern border town of Matamoros last Friday.

The five suspected members of the Gulf cartel’s Scorpions Group armed wing were found handcuffed by security forces and dumped next to an SUV on a street in Matamoros.

The group of Americans were reportedly in Mexico to accompany South Carolina resident Latavia McGee for a discounted tummy tuck. More than a million Americans seek cheaper cosmetic surgery south of the border each year.

The criminal organization apologized to the victims’ families for the broad daylight attack that rocked the border town across from Brownsville, Texas.

Images that emerged on social media showed the suspects lying face down on the pavement, seated against an SUV.

Members (pictured) of the Gulf cartel’s Scorpions Group have been abandoned on a street in Matamoros and have been accused by the criminal organization of being behind the abduction of four Americans last Friday, including two who were killed. A Mexican woman was shot dead in the incident

The Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo, CDG) also left a note, “condemning” the kidnappings and killings

The Gulf Cartel (Cartel del Golfo, CDG) also left a note on a white placard expressing deep regret.

“The Gulf Cartel’s Scorpions Group strongly condemns the events of this past Friday, March 3, in which, sadly, an ‘innocent’ working mother died and four American citizens were ‘kidnapped’, two of whom died,” the Spanish said composed message.

The criminal organization, which had existed since the 1930s, claimed the suspects acted on their own.

“And for this reason we have decided to extradite those involved and directly responsible for the facts, who at all times have acted out of their own determination and lack of discipline and against the rules that ‘The CDG’ has always applied, respecting the life and integrity of has the innocents,” said the cartel. “The CDG apologizes to the community of Matamoran, Mrs. Arely’s relatives, the affected American individuals and families. The CDG asks society to remain calm as we are committed not to repeat these mistakes caused by indiscipline and whoever is responsible will pay for it!!’

A spokesman for the Tamaulipas Attorney General’s Office told DailyMail.com on Thursday that the five alleged participants are yet to be charged.

Prosecutors said law enforcement investigators assigned to the kidnapping had located and seized an ambulance that the cartel had used to drive the American victims to a local clinic for treatment after the attack.

South Carolina resident Latavia McGee, her cousin Shaheed Woodward, and friends Zindell Brown and Eric James arrived in Matamoros around 9 a.m. last Friday and were attacked about two hours later, according to the Mexican government.

The Gulf Cartel said the five individuals “acted out of their own determination and lack of discipline and against the rules that ‘the CDG’ has always practiced, respecting the lives and integrity of innocent people.”

One video showed Gulf Cartel operatives forcing McGee onto the bed of a pickup truck and loading the bodies of Woodward, Brown and James into the vehicle.

The three men accompanied McGee on the road trip from South Carolina across the border to McGee’s tummy tuck surgery.

Mexican national and Matamoros resident Arely Servando, 33, was struck by a stray bullet and killed at the scene.

Latavia McGee and Eric James were rescued by security forces Tuesday morning

Shaheed Woodard and Zindell Brown, two of the Americans kidnapped in Mexico, were found dead on Tuesday

Arely Servando was caught in the middle of a Gulf Cartel attack on a vehicle carrying four Americans and was struck by a stray bullet and died in the Mexican border town of Matamoros last Friday

McGee, a mother of five, and James, who was shot in the leg, were rescued Tuesday morning from a cartel hideout six and a half miles away in the rural town of El Tecolote. Brown and Woodward were found dead in the home.

Mexican law enforcement officials have also been investigating the possibility that members of a drug cartel kidnapped four Americans last Friday thinking they were encroaching on their turf, according to an internal government document provided to Reuters.

Latavia ‘Tay’ McGee was found unharmed after she, her cousin and two friends were abducted. The mother-of-five was spotted shoeless after surviving the tragic incident alongside boyfriend Eric Williams, who was shot in the left leg

Mexican officials said McGee’s cousin Shaheed Woodard and his friend Zindell Brown were killed. Their bodies were found in hiding along with the two survivors

Officials, who say they are pursuing different lines of investigation, produced a brief document summarizing the Americans’ kidnapping and biographical information about them. The digital document’s metadata indicated that it was created on Wednesday.

It included their names, dates of birth and addresses, as well as criminal record details. Among them were drug convictions against Brown and Woodard.

Given the criminal record, “it cannot be ruled out that the attack on[the Americans]could be directly related to drug trafficking operations” that their assailants believed the Americans could carry out, the document said.

Source: | This article originally belongs to Dailymail.co.uk