News

Actions

Soccer star kidnapped

Posted at 6:28 PM, May 29, 2016
and last updated 2016-05-29 18:28:38-04

Security forces in northern Mexico say they’re searching for a kidnapped soccer star.

Alan Pulido, a striker for Greece’s Olympiacos club who played in the past for Mexico’s national team, was kidnapped Saturday night in Ciudad Victoria, officials said on Twitter.

“We have information that he was intercepted by armed people and since then his whereabouts have been unknown,” state Attorney General Ismael Quintanilla Acosta said.

Federal and local authorities are searching for Pulido, Quintanilla said.

The Greek team tweeted its support for Pulido, 25, who hails from Ciudad Victoria, in northern Mexico.

“We sincerely hope that this ordeal will soon end and that he will return home safely,” the team said.

Ciudad Victoria, the capital of Mexico’s Tamaulipas state, has been one of the country’s most brutal cartel battlegrounds. Hundreds of kidnappings were reported in the border state last year. Activists say the tally of missing people in Mexico is far higher than official numbers, because many disappearances go unreported.

Tigres' forward Alan Pulido celebrates after scoring a goal against America during their Mexican Apertura 2013 tournament quarterfinal football match at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City on December 1, 2013. AFP PHOTO/ Yuri CORTEZ        (Photo credit should read YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)

Tigres’ forward Alan Pulido celebrates after scoring a goal against America during their Mexican Apertura 2013 tournament quarterfinal football match at the Azteca stadium in Mexico City on December 1, 2013. AFP PHOTO/ Yuri CORTEZ (Photo credit should read YURI CORTEZ/AFP/Getty Images)