Arkansas Online

9 inmates freed in Mexican prison break

MEXICO CITY — A gang rammed several vehicles into a central Mexico prison and escaped with nine inmates Wednesday in one of the most dramatic breakouts the country has seen in recent years.

Authorities in the state of Hidalgo, just north of Mexico City, said in a statement that the predawn attack resulted in two police officers injured by gunfire.

The state police said soldiers, police and national guard troops had fanned out looking for the escaped inmates. Police did not identify the armed gang involved in the prison break.

Local media reported that the burned-out cars found in the city of Tula after the attack were car bombs. Authorities said they were investigating how the vehicles caught fire.

The use of car bombs by gangs in Mexico has been extremely rare, with one such attack in the northern border city of Ciudad Juarez in 2010 killing three people.

But gangs in Mexico frequently do torch vehicles to distract police, and vehicles set alight can appear to explode once the flames reach their gas tanks.

Tula is home to a large oil refinery and the area has been plagued by gangs of thieves who drill illegal taps into government-owned pipelines to extract gasoline and diesel.

It was unclear if any fuel thieves were among the escaped inmates; authorities said the escapees had faced charges of homicide and kidnapping, among others. State prosecutor Alejandro Habib said a large number of people took part in the apparently highly-planned attack.

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2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

2021-12-02T08:00:00.0000000Z

https://edition.arkansasonline.com/article/281792812309406

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