Soccer Player Shown With Bandaged Hand After Kidnapping

Alan Pulido was seized by gunmen as he left a party Saturday night
By Newser Editors and Wire Services
Posted May 30, 2016 7:00 AM CDT
Soccer Player Shown With Bandaged Hand After Kidnapping
In a June 29, 2014 file photo, Mexico's Alan Pulido consoles teammate Javier Hernandez (14) after the Netherlands defeated Mexico 2-1 during the World Cup round of 16 soccer match between the Netherlands and Mexico at the Arena Castelao in Fortaleza, Brazil.   (Eduardo Verdugo)

Mexican police have rescued kidnapped soccer player Alan Pulido, who appeared with a bandaged hand at a brief press conference Monday to declare that he was fine. Police and other officials said Pulido, a 25-year-old forward with Greek soccer club Olympiakos, was freed in a security operation Sunday shortly before midnight in the northeast border state of Tamaulipas. Pulido had been seized by gunmen as he left a party Saturday night. In the early hours of Monday, Pulido appeared outside state police offices wearing shorts and a tank top with a bandaged right hand alongside Tamaulipas Gov. Egidio Torre Cantu. When reporters asked him how he was, Pulido replied: "Very well, thank God."

"The most important thing is that he is here. He is with us," Torre Cantu said. Pulido declined to answer other questions and was driven away in a sports utility vehicle. The Tamaulipas security coordination group said in a statement earlier Monday that the rescue occurred shortly before midnight and involved state and federal forces. State police spokesman Evaristo Gutierrez said one suspect was arrested, but provided no details. Pulido, a member of Mexico's 2014 World Cup squad, was kidnapped outside his hometown of Ciudad Victoria. Tamaulipas, which borders Texas, has been plagued with violence in recent years as the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels battle for control. (More kidnapping stories.)

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