Five musicians killed in a suspect Mexican cartel

Five musicians who disappeared in the Mexican city of Reynosis, near the US border, were killed by suspect members of the drug cartel, Mexican authorities said.

Nine alleged members of the notorious cartel in the Persian Gulf have been arrested on suspicion of murder, according to Irving Barios Mojika, Prosecutor General for the Mexican state of Tamalipas.

The musicians – known as Grupo Fugitivo – were abducted while traveling to a private event on May 25, Barios Mojika said. Shortly thereafter, their relatives announced that they were receiving demands for ransom.

Investigators are working to establish a motive for killings.

The musicians were between the ages of 20 and 40 and often played at local parties and dances.

Nine firearms and two vehicles were also seized during the arrests.

Grupo Fugitivo has performed a number of regional Mexican music, a genre that includes corridors – songs that were historically used to pay tribute to drug cartels and their leaders.

It is not clear immediately whether the band was directed because of their music or caught in the violence, which has long accumulated Tamaulipas, where the cartel in the Persian Gulf has a strong presence.

The Trump administration has identified the Persian Gulf Cartel, along with several other criminal groups, a “global terrorist organization”.

In January, the US Embassy in Mexico issued a level 4 travel board, the highest level, warning its citizens not to travel to several Mexican cities, including Raynosa.

He cites the risk of “crime and abduction” and “increasingly frequent battles with pistols that meet in and around the city.

“The highly armed members of criminal groups often patrol regions of the state and work with impunity, especially in the border region from Roine to Nuevo Laredo,” the US State Department said.

“In these areas, local law enforcement agencies have a limited capacity to respond to crime incidents.”