Jacking Detainees

This story, about a stickup group essentially robbing the authorities in Chiapas of 33 Cuban and Central American detainees, is making the rounds in Mexico today. The group was wearing ski masks and carrying automatic weapons. The people had been detained because of immigration violations, and the authorities holding them were unarmed when the attackers arrived. People smugglers, contrary to the image of a lone coyote wandering in the desert with a group of immigrants straggling behind, are increasingly sophisticated and militarized, as we see in the above story. The book From the Maras to the Zetas includes a great section on the travails facing Central Americans as they make their way through southern Mexico.

Another question: were the 33 migrants were taken because the smugglers are protecting their control of the racket, or if the migrants had already paid the mafiosos, and they were releasing them from the government’s grip essentially to fulfill their contract? I´m guessing it’s the first option.