ZACATECAS, Zac. (apro). – An armed group on Monday deprived two Canadian citizens of a luxury vehicle and stole two other vehicles from motorists while driving on a highway in the municipality of Cuauhtémoc, 50 kilometers southeast of the capital Zacatecas.

Cuauhtémoc state and municipal police launched an operation to recover the stolen cars, but were ambushed by the alleged thieves in the Corralitos community, in the neighboring municipality of Genaro Codina, leading to a confrontation.

In the battle, a Cuauhtémoc municipal police officer died and four state officers were injured, the State Peacebuilding Table reported, at the same time as it confirmed the arrest of one of the aggressors.

The Cuauhtémoc city council reported on its social networks that it was possible to “bring to safety two Canadian citizens who had been robbed of their vehicle”, deploring the killing of the municipal police officer, Luis Antonio García de la Riva.

Agents of the Zacatecas Immediate Reaction Force (FRIZ) of the State Police, along with members of the Mexican Army and National Guard, reinforced operations deployed in the municipalities of Cuauhtémoc and Genaro Codina to find the whereabouts of the armed group, which he previously had private citizens stripped of their vehicles and attacked the uniformed officers.

Overnight, the State Peacebuilding Roundtable announced that the operations, led by the Zacatecas Secretary of Public Security Arturo Medina Mayoral, had succeeded and they had dismantled a criminal cell, seized weapons and dismantled five camps controlled by criminal groups were used.

According to the press release, four people were arrested in two actions: Brian Ulises, 21; Miguel Angel, 29; Esteban Alberto, 27, and a minor, all from the state of Durango.

This criminal group seized 11 long firearms, 2,614 cartridges, 32 loaders, tactical equipment and metal stars known as ponchallantas.