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Mexican Soccer Star, Alan Pulido, kidnapped In Crime-Riddled State Of Tamaulipas — Federal And State Forces Mobilize To Assist

By Janice Malcolm
Published on: 09:49 PST, May 29, 2016

State officials have announced that on Sunday, Mexican soccer star Alan Pulido was kidnapped close to his home town near to the northern border of the Mexican state of Tamaulipas.

The officials who made the announcement advised that the 25-year-old soccer player had been on his way from a party held near his hometown of Ciudad Victoria, when he was kidnapped. His hometown is unfortunately the capital of the northern border state of Tamaulipas and has been deeply affected by organized crime for a number of years. Federal and state forces have already begun to gather to aid in the rescue of the kidnapped Mexican soccer star.

Federal and state forces mounted an operation Sunday to find the kidnapped Mexican soccer star who was abducted in the crime-plagued northern state of Tamaulipas. There has not been much information regarding exactly how the kidnapping of Pulido took place, nor the possible motive behind it, released to the public as yet. State Attorney General Ismael Quintanilla confirmed the news of the star’s kidnapping.

“We have information that he was intercepted by armed persons and since then his whereabouts are unknown.”

Despite the lack of free flowing information, Sky News Australia reported that Alan Pulido was kidnapped by six masked men and that the soccer star actually had his girlfriend with him when he was leaving that party and she was with him at the time of the attack. Only Pulido was taken, though, and his girlfriend was fortunately, left unharmed.

Alan Pulido, is currently the striker for the Greek football team known as the Olympiakos and was also a part of the 2014 World Cup team for Mexico, though it was said he had not been called up to participate in the Copa America tournament scheduled to begin this coming week. National team coach Carlos Osorio did recently clarify that the fact that Pulido would not be playing had nothing to do with the quality of his play, but that a legal dispute is what kept him from the Copa America team. In the most recent season, Alan Pulido had scored a total of five times in eight appearances with the Greek Olympiacos.

The federal and state security forces in that area are actually a part of a team known as the Tamaulipas Coordination Group, and they announced on their Twitter account that they were participating in the search for the star player. Media personnel located in the city reported that an unusual amount of deployed troops and police were in the streets, while at the same time at least two police or military-style helicopters could be spotted flying overhead.

Pulido’s parents are scheduled to give a press conference about their son being kidnapped later today.

There are several different cartels operating in the crime-affected region and the area is known for kidnapping and violence. In recent years, one of the most famous wars in Tamaulipas was drug-related and it was discovered that 72 Central and South American migrants had been slain during the fight and their bodies left on a ranch just south of the U.S. border. That slaughter was blamed on the Zetas drug cartel.

Alan Pulido debuted with, and played several seasons for, the club Tigres of Monterrey, and left Tigres in 2014 to play in Europe, and the AP reported that Pulido is still in disputes about if his Mexican contract is still valid. Today the Tigres’ Twitter account sent out a message of solidarity with the player’s family “in the difficult situation they are experiencing.” The Olympiakos team had tweeted a message of support upon hearing the news about Pulido being kidnapped.

“At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Alan. We sincerely hope that this ordeal will soon end and that he will return home safely.”

[Photo Courtesy of Dean Mouhtaropoulos/Getty Images]

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