Mexico says 3 soldiers arrested, accused of kidnapping

MEXICO CITY – Mexico’s defence department says three soldiers have been arrested and accused of kidnapping a 14-year-old boy.

The arrests announced Tuesday were especially embarrassing for the government because the three were members of the army military police.

The administration of President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has used the military police as one of the bases for building the country’s new law enforcement agency, the National Guard. Officials said the three — two men and a woman — had not been assigned to serve in the National Guard.

The youth was abducted in southern Guerrero state and the kidnappers demanded a ransom. The three, and a fourth member of the gang, were arrested and the boy freed and returned to his family.