Alan Pulido Rescued Hours After His Kidnapping

Mexican soccer star Alan Pulido is now “safe and sound” after police rescued him from kidnappers who seized him in north-eastern Mexico.

Alan Pulido was abducted at gunpoint on Saturday night in his home town of Ciudad Victoria in Tamaulipas state.

The  25-year-old striker, who plays for Greek team Olympiakos, phoned police while his captors were distracted, officials say.

A 38-year-old man has been arrested. Officials say he confessed to belonging to a local criminal gang.

Police are searching for another three men believed to have been involved in the kidnapping.

Alan Pulido’s car was surrounded by several vehicles as he was leaving a party with his girlfriend on Saturday night.

Masked men took him away, leaving his girlfriend unharmed in the car park where the incident took place.

Alan Pulido’s family received a phone call on Sunday demanding a ransom payment, state prosecutor Ismael Quintanilla told journalists.

It is not clear whether the family was planning to meet the kidnappers’ demands or how big the ransom demand was.

Ismael Quintanilla said that the security forces were able to locate Alan Pulido thanks to the phone call he managed to make to police.

He said no shots had been fired and the Olympiakos striker only sustained a minor injury.

One of his hands bandaged, Alan Pulido told reporters on May 30: “[I am] very well, thank God.”

Tamaulipas is one of Mexico’s most violent states, and Mexico recently deployed more security forces to tackle cartels operating in the area.

Mexico has one of the world’s highest kidnapping rates, with government figures saying some 1,000 people are abducted every year.

Others argue that the true figure could be almost 10 times as high.

Alan Pulido joined Olympiakos in July 2015 and finished the season with six goals in 15 games.