At least 17 migrants kidnapped in Mexico

At least 17 migrants have been kidnapped near the US border in northern Mexico by human traffickers, Tijuana police said Wednesday.

Two freed kidnap victims reported the incident to authorities, saying "another 17 kidnapped people were inside a safe house," Tijuana Police Chief Gustavo Huerta said.

The kidnappings come one week after the bodies of another 72 abducted migrants were found on a ranch in northern Tamaulipas state, in what police said was a mass execution by the Zetas drug gang of 58 men and 14 women who refused to work for them.

Leandro Martinez, 38, told police Wednesday he was abducted 10 days ago by a gang that smuggles illegal aliens across the border into the United States, adding he was unsure how long the other people were held captive, the police chief said.

Martinez said he and another kidnapped migrant were dropped off by their captors Wednesday near a mountain east of Tijuana, a city of 1.2 million inhabitants across from San Diego, California.

He said he was tied hand and foot and beaten during his captivity to get him to give out the telephone numbers of his relatives, who were then told to pay a $4,500 ransom for his release.

Police said they were trying to locate the safe house where the other migrants were being held.

Both drug and human trafficking gangs often kidnap people for ransom. In 2009, some $25 million were paid out for 10,000 kidnap victims, according to Mexico's Human Rights Commission records.

Around half a million illegal immigrants cross Mexico each year, mostly from Central America, the commission said.

Some 10,000 undocumented migrants were abducted in Mexico over six months from September 2008 to February 2009, the commission reported last year.