The State Attorney General’s Office (FGE) declared four individuals who operated a call center in Mérida to commit scams through the fraudulent sale of tourist packages criminally responsible for kidnapping in Yucatán.
The defendants were found guilty of illegal deprivation of liberty in the form of aggravated kidnapping, after depriving workers at a call center in Mérida, Yucatán.
The events occurred between June 25 and 28, 2022. The kidnapped people were hired by a call center in the San Sebastián neighborhood, were held against their will, and were victims of threats and physical attacks to make them carry out forced labor.
However, one of the kidnapped people finally managed to escape due to the carelessness of his captors, so he immediately notified the authorities, who implemented an operation to rescue the other people forced to work.
The police arrived to rescue the rest of the people at a house on 70th Street in downtown Mérida. The criminals were ready to run away. Outside a car with two more people was waiting for them, but they were intercepted by the agents.
There was another criminal left inside who, in his escape attempt, jumped over a fence towards the next house, but he broke a leg and was also arrested. In total, eight people were arrested at the time of the operation in 2022, although the prosecution only named four people as guilty.
It was unofficially known that those arrested were carrying weapons and drugs and it was speculated that they were part of an organized crime cell operating in Yucatán.
In this regard, the Prosecutor’s Office indicates that those accused of committing kidnapping in Yucatán, detained and housed several people inside that call center, located in Mérida, where they forced them to work for several hours and prohibited them from leaving the site, in addition. They were victims of physical attacks, threats and without giving them the corresponding payment.
It was in an Oral Trial where the FGE provided the expert, documentary, and testimonial evidence that allowed the conviction to be obtained. And in a hearing before the First Collegiate Court of Prosecution, the responsibility of the accused was confirmed.
TYT Newsroom