Confessions in Mexico Kidnap Case Reported
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AGUA PRIETA, Mexico — A group of men arrested here has confessed to the Aug. 10 kidnapping of Japanese executive Mamoru Konno, the Hermosillo newspaper El Imparcial reported Thursday.
Konno, president of Sanyo Video Components U.S.A., was kidnapped in Tijuana and freed eight days later after his company paid a $2-million ransom.
The paper said the five-member gang led by Jose Maria Serrano Villa was part of a group sought for other murders and kidnappings.
The arrests came after police learned of a plot to kidnap former Agua Prieta Mayor Luis Pericles Dravos Montreal, El Imparcial said, quoting police sources.
Agua Prieta is in the northern state of Sonora on the Arizona border, across from the town of Douglas.
Earlier, a Tijuana taxi driver had been held in the kidnapping. He was freed in mid-September after two dozen witnesses testified that he was attending a baptism when the abduction took place.
Officials from the states of Baja California, Sinaloa and Chihuahua have asked that the men be sent to them on various charges after they answer to charges in Sonora.
When the men were arrested they were accused of carrying weapons restricted to military use. It was not clear when the arrests took place.
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