Mexico frees 24 migrants kidnapped by Hondurans

MEXICO CITY – Police in northern Mexico have freed 24 kidnapped Cuban and Central American migrants and arrested five Hondurans accused of abducting them.

Drug and kidnap gangs in Mexico frequently target migrants, extorting money by forcing them to call relatives in the United States to get money. But the kidnappers are seldom also migrants.

Prosecutors in the northern border state of Sonora said Wednesday that the migrants were freed after one of them managed to make a call to police. The victims included six minors and one pregnant woman.

Four Honduran men and one woman have been charged with kidnapping and criminal conspiracy.

Migrants from other countries frequently cross Mexico without proper documents trying to reach the U.S. border.