Narco Blog: Executives Held Ransom in Exchange for 150 Tons of Seed Rescued

Six suspects were killed in an operation to rescue three kidnapped business executives in the western Mexican state of Sinaloa, authorities said Wednesday.

The director, general manager and chief accountant of the agribusiness firm Agroplasma were abducted last Saturday from the company’s offices in Guasava, Sinaloa, state Attorney General Marco Antonio Higuera Gomez said.

The heavily armed kidnappers took the captives to a safe house in Los Mochis.

The captors contacted Agroplasma to demand 150 tons of crop seed in exchange for the executives’ release and company personnel alerted police, Higuera said.

Officials then assembled a team of state police and soldiers backed by helicopters to mount an operation that resulted in the rescue of the executives and the deaths of six suspects, identified only as men in their early-to-mid 30s.