Alan Pulido is a Mexican professional soccer player, that used to play for Tigres of the University of Nuevo León; he has played for the Mexico National Team, and for the last two years, he is a striker for the Greek soccer team Olympiakos.
It was confirmed by Mexican authorities on Sunday May 29, that Pulido was kidnapped in the northeastern Mexican state of Tamaulipas.
Authorities in Tamaulipas tweeted that there was a “special operation” to find the 25-year-old Mexico national team player, who disappeared in his hometown of Ciudad Victoria on Saturday May 28.
Ismael Quintanilla, Tamaulipas state prosecutor, told reporters that Pulido was intercepted by armed men after leaving a party.
“At this difficult time, our thoughts and prayers are with Alan,” the Olympiakos team tweeted. “We sincerely hope that this ordeal will soon end and that he will return home safely.”
And fortunately, during the early morning hours of Monday May 30, Pulido appeared outside state police offices wearing shorts and a tank top with a bandaged right hand alongside Tamaulipas Governor 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.
Alan Pulido alonside Governor of Tamaulipas, Egidio Torre Cantu. (Photo: AP Photo/Alfredo Peña)
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.
The northern state of Tamaulipas, is right on the border with the U.S. state of Texas, and is know to be an especially violent state of Mexico.
Pulido was a member of the Mexican national team that went to the 2014 World Cup in Brazil. He has also played for the Greek team Levadiakos and the Mexican club Tigres.
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