Sonoran authorities rescued a New York businessman in Hermosillo on Saturday after he was kidnapped in Arizona, transported across the border into Mexico and held at ransom.
According to a news release Sunday, the Sonoran Attorney General's Office was contacted by the FBI on Oct. 27 after a businessman was kidnapped in Eloy, about 60 miles southeast of Phoenix. The man was identified only as Luis Ramon, a Dominican businessman who lives in New York.
Kidnappers transported the man across the border into Nogales, Sonora, in the trunk of a vehicle. They then contacted the victim’s brother in Orlando, Florida, demanding nearly $500,000 in ransom money. The brother reportedly told the captors he could only pull together $350,000 by selling some of his belongings.
Sonoran Attorney General Claudia Indira Contreras says the Sonoran Criminal Investigative Unit worked with the FBI to find the man “safe and sound” Saturday in a 2019 Honda SUV in Hermosillo.
"It was a definitive success, and this is when we can talk about the effective coordination between our two states, and our countries," Contreras said. "It's clear evidence that we're more effective when we're working together."
Officers also arrested a suspect identified as Jose Antonio from the Mexican state of Chihuahua on charges of aggravated kidnapping and possession of a firearm.
Contreras said no money was paid to the captors.
