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Tuxtla Gutiérrez, Mexico — Sixteen police employees who had been kidnapped in Mexico’s southern state of Chiapas have been freed after three days of captivity, Governor Rutilio Escandon said Friday.
“I want to tell the people of Chiapas and Mexico that the 16 kidnapped colleagues from the (Security Secretariat) have been released this afternoon,” the governor said on Twitter, while TV stations aired live footage of the abductees reuniting with their families.
The relatives had been staging a sit-in at the Chiapas Security Secretariat, demanding the safe release of their loved ones.
As the newly freed police workers approached on foot, the surprised family members raced to embrace them amid screams and tears, news footage from Foro TV and Milenio showed.
More than 1,000 members of state and federal security forces were involved in the search for the workers, who are administrative employees of the police force.
They had been kidnapped Tuesday while traveling on a stretch of highway that connects the town of Ocozocoautla and the state capital Tuxtla Gutierrez, some 700 kilometers (435 miles) southwest of Mexico City.