Seventeen members of 'La Familia' arrested in Guerrero

The Office of the Attorney General (PGR), in coordination with the federal forces arrested the members of a criminal gang operating in the region of Tierra Caliente, Guerrero, involved in the kidnapping of 29 people, 23 of them found in a cave in the municipality of Arcelia.

The arrests come after an investigation started at the beginning of the year.

The detainees were arrested for the crimes of kidnapping, extortion, and possession of drugs and military grade weapons. According to the investigations, they are members of the Familia Michoacana criminal gang.

"The Assistant Attorney General's Office for Special Investigations on Organized Crime (SEIDO) indicated that as a result of various investigations, in coordination with the Investigation Division of the Federal Police, the public prosecutor attached to the Specialized Unit in Terrorism Investigations and Possession and Weapons Trafficking has presented and indictment against the 17, arrested by the federal forces," according to a press release.

The detainees had operations in the municipalities of Teloloapan and Arcelia, an area in dispute among criminal gangs.

On January 20, the Federal Police rescued 23 people, among them seven females of ten to 16 years of age, after a series of officers on patrol were attacked by criminals.

Seven members of the organization were arrested back then and are currently in the maximum security prison of El Altiplano, in the State of Mexico.