Authorities have said that a South Carolina man was rescued after he was kidnapped by three men believed to be affiliated with a Mexican drug cartel.
NBC News reported that on Tuesday, officials rescued the man who was taken hostage on July 9 and held for $200,000 ransom in drugs.
The Associated Press noted that Juan Manuel Fuentes-Morales, Ruben Ceja-Rangel and Luis Castro Villeda posed as police officers in order to abduct the man as he was on his way to work.
Law enforcement officials were able to trace phone calls from the kidnappers and stormed a residence in North Carolina where they found the victim bound and blindfolded.
Calls demanding ransom were also made to the victim’s family from Mexico, but so far authorities have not been able to track those.
The suspects were arraigned in a Raleigh courtroom on Wednesday.
The victim in the case is said to have owned money or drugs to cartel members abroad, but police have not yet confirmed all the specifics.