Four municipal police officers from Ojinaga were abducted Tuesday by an armed group while escorting Mayor Lucy Marrufo Acosta to a regional security meeting, according to authorities with the Chihuahua State Attorney General’s Office (FGE).
The officers were identified as Juan Carlos Vázquez Rivera, José Luis Cortez Ortiz, Miguel Ángel Núñez Chávez, and Commander Ramiro Orozco Pineda, who had recently assumed leadership of the municipal police force following the resignation of the department’s director four months ago.
The officers were traveling behind the mayor’s vehicle en route to a security meeting in Aldama when they were intercepted by armed civilians traveling in several pickup trucks. The ambush occurred near the community of Maclovio Herrera, roughly an hour and a half from the state capital.
Outnumbered, the officers were forced out of their patrol unit and taken to an unknown location. Their patrol vehicle was later found abandoned with its doors open approximately three kilometers from the Ojinaga checkpoint.
Mayor Marrufo Acosta, who was traveling ahead of the police unit, was able to continue her journey and reach safety, authorities confirmed.
The incident prompted a security response involving the State Police, National Guard, and the State Attorney General’s Office, which deployed personnel to the area to search for the missing officers and investigate the abduction.
As of Tuesday, authorities had not released information regarding the whereabouts of the officers or the identity of those responsible for the abduction.
Information provided by El Diario de Chihuahua.
