Mexico arrests five suspects in mining murders

The workers were mistaken for members of a rival Sinaloa cartel faction, which has been embroiled in infighting since September 2024. (AFP pic) MEXICO CITY: Mexican authorities said on Sunday that they had arrested five men linked to the kidnapping and murder of 10 workers from a Canadian mining company in the country's northwest.

The workers, all Mexicans, were kidnapped at gunpoint on Jan 23 from a silver mining project belonging to Vancouver-based Vizsla Silver in the violence-plagued state of Sinaloa.

The bodies of the 10 men, two of whom were engineers and one a geologist, were later found buried in clandestine graves.

Mexico's defense ministry said the suspects belonged to a faction of the fearsome Sinaloa cartel. It identified one suspect as Jesus Abraham, alias Taliban.

In June, Mexico announced the arrest of another suspect, identified as Gabriel N., alias Gabito, a hitman for the same faction.

Abductions by armed groups are common in Mexico, where more than 120,000 people have vanished since the 1950s, many of them abducted and killed by drug cartels.

It is rare, however, for international companies to be targeted.

The government said the workers were mistaken for members of a rival faction of the Sinaloa cartel, which has been ripped apart by internecine fighting since September 2024.

According to the government, the suspects worked for a faction controlled by the sons of jailed druglord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, who is serving a life sentence in the US.

The Sinaloa cartel has been designated a terrorist organization by Washington.