The state of Chiapas in southern Mexico has deployed federal and local forces after several armed men abducted 14 state police officers. An air and ground operation is now underway to try and find these abducted police officers who were all men.

According to a report by the Associated Press, the men all belonged to the Chiapas state police and were traveling to the state capital in a personnel transport truck. However, as they were traveling, the transport vehicle was intercepted by several trucks filled with gunmen who were described to be commandoes.

There was a woman who was riding aboard the truck, but she was let go as the gunmen only took the men. The brazen kidnapping happened along the highway between Ocozocoautla and Tuxtla Gutierrez. It happened in the state of Chiapas, which is along the Mexico-Guatemala border.

The incident happened after President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador visited Chiapas last Friday. The Mexican president minimized the escalating violence in the state in recent months, which has been dominated by the conflict between two of Mexico's biggest drug cartels, the Sinaloa Cartel and the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG). The two criminal organizations have been in a territorial dispute for control of the border state.

It was noted that before AMLO arrived for his visit, the Attorney General's Office in Tuxtla Gutiérrez was attacked, killing the state AG's companion and seriously injuring the official.

CJNG and Sinaloa Cartel Battling For Guatemala Trade Routes Along Border With Mexico

So far, no group has claimed responsibility for the police officers' abduction in Chiapas. However, the southern Mexican state is where the escalating conflict between Mexico's two most notorious cartels is happening.

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The conflict has already displaced thousands of people in the state, and the cause of the two cartels clashing is for control of the lucrative drug trafficking and migrant smuggling routes from Guatemala.

In Sight Crime reported that the rapid increase in violence between the Sinaloa Cartel and the CJNG has displaced many Chiapas citizens, forcing them to flee from their homes as the cartel's improvised armored vehicles were seen patrolling the streets.

Mexico Government Steps Up in Chiapas Conflict

A series of executions and forced recruitments into the cartels' ranks soon followed, prompting the government to send over 1,500 army and police personnel to secure the area last month. Experts say that this shows that Mexican cartels are now expanding their operations across the border to Guatemala.

According to El Pais, the conflict between two of Mexico's largest criminal organizations in Chiapas has been going on for two years now. They have mostly terrorized Frontera Comalapa and its farming communities, with residents and NGOs denouncing this recent surge in violence.

Local leaders have already been killed in the conflict, with the Mexican government finally stepping in with last month's troop deployment. These are expected to combat the cartels, which have sent in modified armored trucks and placed barricades and blockades around busy roads.

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This article is owned by Latin Post.

Written by: Rick Martin

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