Cancun, Q.R. — Three people initially charged with kidnapping have had their charges upgraded to smuggling. The Attorney General of the Republic (FGR), said the case has been handed over to them since smuggling is under federal jurisdiction.
The three charged are being held in custody following their arrests in Cancun last month. According to the FGR, a total of five people were taken into custody, however, only three have been charged.
The group was arrested from Los Jaguares Street in Cancun in response to a call regarding people being held against their will. At the scene, Cancun police found nine people, four of whom were being held captive.
They were initially investigated for kidnapping, however, charges changed to migrant trafficking and became a federal case. In a statement, the FGR said a judge imposed the precautionary measure of justified preventive detention for the three charged.
“The investigation began with the receipt of the declination of jurisdiction in favor of the Federal Prosecutor’s Office sent by the State Attorney General (FGE), since the District Judge specializing in the Accusatory Penal System accepted the jurisdiction declined by the First Instance Control Judge in the state of Quintana Roo, considering that the facts investigated are of federal jurisdiction,” they reported.
The investigation stemmed from the Standardized Police Report signed by members of the Quintana Roo Citizen Security Secretariat who responded to a call for help in the vicinity of Los Jaguares Street in Cancun where they located nine people, four of whom were apparently being held against their will.
The officers arrested the five suspected individuals who were then turned over to local authorities. At the initial hearing, the judge reclassified the initial charge as migrant smuggling, which falls under federal jurisdiction.
