Five ministerial investigative police officers assigned to the attorney general’s office (FGR) in Mexico City were arrested on kidnapping and extortion charges.

Five ministerial police officers from the federal attorney general’s office (PGR) of the Agencia de Investigación Criminal (AIC) were arrested and charged with kidnapping and extortion, according to a press release from the PGR. The five were arrested Friday by members of their own agency after a complaint accused them of kidnapping and extorting a ransom payment from a victim. The officers were identified as Raúl “R,” Ivan “G,” Librado Ricardo “S,” Luis Alberto “P,” and Karina “C.” All belonged to a unit that specializes in organized crime investigations (Subprocuraduría Especializada en Investigación de Delincuencia Organizada–SEIDO).

#FGR cumplimenta orden de aprehensión contra 5 elementos de la Policía Federal Ministerial #PFM, por la probable comisión del delito de secuestro agravado. https://t.co/FkHxLG6Ssc pic.twitter.com/0F6Kx5Kj3u — FGR México (@FGRMexico) May 25, 2019

The initial complaint pertained to a kidnapping case in January in the Miguel Hidalgo borough, which is one of 16 that makes up the Federal District of Mexico City. The five officers would reportedly travel in a convoy and carry out fake arrests. The victims would eventually be held for ransom, according to a local report. During further follow up investigation, more kidnapping victims were discovered. The five officers were initially assigned to narcotics investigations and some were later transferred to the anti-kidnapping unit.

The attorney general’s office commented in a prepared statement, “we will not tolerate under any circumstances any type of illegal conduct committed by any public servant and we will punish all those who commit crimes.”

Robert Arce is a retired Phoenix Police detective with extensive experience working Mexican organized crime and street gangs. Arce has worked in the Balkans, Iraq, Haiti, and recently completed a three-year assignment in Monterrey, Mexico, working out of the Consulate for the United States Department of State, International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Program, where he was the Regional Program Manager for Northeast Mexico (Coahuila, Tamaulipas, Nuevo Leon, Durango, San Luis Potosi, Zacatecas.)