Authorities in Mexico are searching for 10 workers from a Canadian company who were abducted from a mining project site on Jan. 24.
On Wednesday, Jan. 28, Vancouver-based Vizla Silver Corp. said in a statement that 10 individuals were taken from its site in Concordia, Mexico. The company said it has notified local authorities and activated its crisis management and security response teams.
The company said its immediate priority is the safety and well-being of those who were abducted. As a precaution, it added, certain activities at and near the site have been temporarily suspended.
Mexican Security and Citizen Protection Secretary Omar García Harfuch said during a press conference that the abduction occurred on Saturday, Jan. 24, according to the CBC. He said federal and state authorities are searching for the missing workers, who were kidnapped at the same time.
Harfuch also said authorities are investigating whether a cartel faction in the Mexican state of Sinaloa — where the operation is located — may be involved. “What we know is there were no previous threats or interference with employees of this company,” he said, according to NewsNation. Harfuch added that officials believe a cell of Los Chapitos operates in the area and said authorities have identified a local leader they are trying to locate.
The case was reported to authorities on Jan. 24, when a legal representative for the company called 911, the Sinaloa State Attorney General’s Office said in a statement on Jan. 29.
The Attorney General’s Office said an investigation was opened and it began working with federal authorities, including the Sinaloa State Search Commission and the Ministry of National Defense, as part of efforts to locate the missing workers.
“As part of these actions, a search warrant, duly authorized by the competent judicial authority, was executed on January 27th of this year,” the statement said.
On Thursday, Jan. 29, the Mexican government sent 1,600 additional troops to Sinaloa after gunshots were fired at two members of the Citizens’ Movement party in Culiacán, the state capital, according to the CBC.
Harfuch said locating the abducted workers remains his top priority. “We want to tell the relatives of the victims that the entire Cabinet will not stop searching for them and that we are participating (with state authorities) in the investigation,” he said, according to the CBC. He added that the National Defense Secretariat and the Navy have a strong presence in the area and that reinforcements have been sent.
