Mexico arrests cartel members linked to murders of 10 workers from Canadian mining company

Updated on: October 19, 2026 / 6:35 AM EDT / CBS/AFP

Mexican authorities said on Sunday that they had arrested five men linked to the kidnapping and murder of 10 workers from a Canadian mining company in the country's northwest.

The workers, all Mexicans, were kidnapped at gunpoint on January 23 from a silver mining project belonging to Vancouver-based Vizsla Silver in the violence-plagued state of Sinaloa.

The bodies of the 10 men, two of whom were engineers and one a geologist, were later found buried in clandestine graves.

Mexico's defense ministry said the suspects belonged to a faction of the fearsome Sinaloa cartel. It identified one suspect as Jesus Abraham, alias Taliban.

In June, Mexico announced the arrest of another suspect, identified as Gabriel N., alias Gabito, a hitman for the same faction.

Mines have been the target of organized crime on other occasions in Mexico, as cartels see opportunities to extort or even sell valuable ore themselves.

Abductions by armed groups are common in Mexico, where more than 120,000 people have vanished since the 1950s, many of them abducted and killed by drug cartels.

It is rare, however, for international companies to be targeted.

"We are devastated by…

Original source: https://www.cbsnews.com/world/