(NewsNation) — Three more arrests have been made following a raid connected to the murder and kidnapping of five members of a Mexican band.
Nine suspects were arrested last week, all of whom were believed to be part of a faction called the Gulf Cartel.
The five individuals killed were members of the Mexican music group Grupo Fugitivo.
The operation involved personnel from the Defense Ministry, Navy, Attorney General’s Office, National Guard and the Ministry of Security and Citizen Protection, according to a joint statement released by the Mexican Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection.
In addition to the arrest of the alleged mastermind of the kidnapping and murders, 12 vehicles, firearms and nearly 7 kilograms of drugs were seized.
The statement stated that the triumvirate is part of a criminal group but did not specify which one.
Authorities say the band members were killed on the weekend of May 23 while traveling to a venue where they’d been hired to play.
The gruesome discovery of the five bodies was made in Reynosa, near the Texas-Mexico border, an area that has faced escalating violence in recent years as different cartels strive to gain control of drug trafficking and human smuggling there.
While authorities didn’t confirm what condition the bodies were found in, they also did not deny local media reports that they had been burned.
Violence against music groups is common in Mexico. Sometimes, when a group praises a rival cartel, it can put the musicians in the middle of turf battles between the criminal groups.
NewsNation’s Jorge Ventura contributed to this report.