Over 80 New Arrest Warrants Issued For Suspects In Iguala Missing Students Case

Faizan Hashmi Published August 21, 2022 | 03:20 AM

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 21st August, 2022) A Mexican court has issued 83 new arrest warrants for suspects in the Iguala mass kidnapping case, including members of the military, police, judicial and administrative staff of Guerrero State.

"At the request of the Attorney General's Office, the second Federal criminal justice judge in the State of Mexico, based in Toluca, issued 83 arrest warrants... All related to what happened in the city of Iguala, Guerrero, on and after September 26 and 27, 2014, and at later dates," the Attorney General's Office said in a Saturday statement.

The arrest warrants were issued for 20 members of the military, five administrative and judicial officials from Guerrero, 44 police officers and 14 members of the Guerreros Unidos criminal gang.

Charges in these warrants include organized crime, enforced disappearances, torture, murder, and crimes against the administration of justice.

On Friday, the Attorney General's Office announced that Mexico's former Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam, who led the agency during the initial investigation into the case of missing students in Iguala, was arrested.

Presidential spokesman Jesus Ramirez Cuevas said on Friday that Karam is accused of crimes of forced disappearance, torture and crimes against the administration of justice, in the Ayotzinapa case, and that he will be sent to prison in Mexico City.

Karam led the investigation into the disappearance of 43 students from the Ayotzinapa Rural Teachers' College in the city of Iguala in Mexico's southwestern Guerrero state in 2014. They were abducted after participating in a protest against discriminatory hiring and funding practices in Iguala.

Initially, authorities blamed the alleged abduction on local drug cartels and criminal gangs, but additional evidence provided by independent experts revealed that local police were involved. According to Mexican authorities, the students were likely burnt at a trash dump near the city of Cocula located in Guerrero state.

Over a hundred people were arrested following the tragic incident, including the former mayor of Iguala and numerous police officials. Over two dozen key witnesses were reportedly killed or died during the investigation.