Mexican authorities arrested a Colombian hitman working for a Mexican cartel, a police chief and 16 other people including policemen and assassins. All of the arrests are related to the recent execution of two federal policemen. Before the execution, the assassins disseminated a video showing federal police officers being forced to read a message accusing their bosses of stealing the drugs.

Last month, hit men from the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) kidnapped two federal police officers in Nayarit and forced them to record a video threatening the federal government for allegedly carrying out illegal actions against the cartels, Breitbart Texas reported. Days after the video came out, federal authorities confirmed finding the bodies of officers Alfonso Hernandez Villavicencio and Octavio Martinez Quiroz. The bodies of the kidnapped officers were found in the trunk of a vehicle and showed signs of torture.

As part of a large-scale investigation into the murder of the two cops, Mexico’s Attorney General’s Office announced the arrest of 18 cartel employees including various lawmen. The Colombian capo Mauricio “El Manotas” Varela Reyes, who is the regional head of the CJNG in Puerto Vallarta, Jalisco, is accused of having planned the kidnapping of the federal officers. To carry out the kidnapping, Mexican authorities claimed that Varela Reyes had the support of local police who were reported to be at the service of the cartel. They are believed to have stopped the two men and turned them over to the cartel.

The 18 men tied to the investigation include the chief of police of Puerto Vallarta, Ubaldo “El Cocho” Cruz Cárdenas and the CJNG communications head, Luis Manuel “El Ingeniero” Cruz Gomez. He is considered to be responsible for disseminating the recorded narco-message of the recorded federales.

Editor’s Note: Breitbart Texas traveled to the Mexican States of Tamaulipas, Coahuila, and Nuevo León to recruit citizen journalists willing to risk their lives and expose the cartels silencing their communities. The writers would face certain death at the hands of the various cartels that operate in those areas including the Gulf Cartel and Los Zetas if a pseudonym were not used. Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles are published in both English and in their original Spanish. This article was written by Tony Aranda from Nuevo León.