Six navy marines are in the custody of Tabasco state authorities after local police in the municipality of Cunduacán arrested them for home robbery.
Navy officials said they are investigating and promised to act in “strict adherence to the law, and with rigor, force, and transparency.”
The arrest comes on the heels of another incident a week ago in another part of Tabasco, also apparently involving marines, which was publicized widely on social media after one of the victims filmed the incident on her phone.
According to the Ministry of the Navy, the marines in the most recent incident are believed to have entered a house sometime last week in the community of Tulipán. Residents reported the crime to Cunducacán police, who investigated the case with the help of police from two other nearby municipalities, state police, and the National Guard.
Authorities arrested the suspects following an hour-long pursuit marked by assault weapons fire that ended in the municipality of Paraíso, where state and federal officials were waiting.
Officials did not provide a clear motive for the robbery. “They didn’t injure anyone, nor were they drunk, but possibly under the influence of some other substance,” Cunduacán Police Chief Lidia Hinojosa said.
The second incident took place August 23 in the town of Benito Juárez, Cárdenas. It came to light after a video surfaced showing men in naval uniforms breaking into a home, firing their weapons and holding members of a civilian family at gunpoint.
The attack is believed to have been retribution for a recent machete attack on a marine that resulted in injuries to the man’s wife and son.
According to navy officials, the marines had entered the home after deciding that the family was responsible for the attack. In the video, the men are heard yelling at the family and a woman is heard telling the soldiers, “What’s wrong with you? We are a family. How can you involve yourselves if you don’t know how things were?”
Later, the woman is heard shouting at the soldiers that they have shot her father.
Source: El Sol de México (sp)
