Authorities in Mexico suspect that the weekend kidnapping of the four Americans in the city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas, could be drug-related, after learning that three of them have criminal records for trafficking, sale and possession of weapons in their country.
According to the Mexican government, this is not the first time that the four — three men and one woman — have crossed the border for reasons allegedly related to these suspicions. According to the records of authorities in South Carolina, where they are from, they have drug-related records.
Zindell Zaquille Mckinley Brown and Shaeed Hakim Woodard, the two fatal kidnapping victims, had priors related to drug processing and dealing, robbery with violence, and weapons possession.
Meanwhile, Letavia Lateefa Washington, who was unharmed in the attack, appears in police records for drug manufacturing and trafficking, robbery and threats to an officer, while Eric James Williams, who was shot, is the only one who has no criminal record, according to the newspaper ‘EL Universal’.
According to Mexican authorities, the four were intercepted by armed men from the Gulf Cartel, which maintains tight control of drug trafficking in Matamoros, to prevent them from operating in their territory.
Meanwhile, the lifeless bodies of Woodard and Brown are scheduled to be returned to the United States this Thursday after an autopsy, two days after the two survivors were handed over to U.S. authorities.
Source: (EUROPA PRESS)
