EL PASO, TEXAS (BNO NEWS) -- Authorities announced on Thursday the arrest of seven people charged after a kidnapping in El Paso and a murder in Mexico's Ciudad Juarez.

Those arrested include three Mexican nationals and four Americans linked to the posession of 100 kilograms of marijuana and the murder of Sergio Saucedo in Ciudad Juarez in September, 2009.

In August 2009, Border Patrol agents seized 670 pounds of marijuana hidden inside a tractor-trailer rig driven by Joey Albert Ashley, 39, and Manuel Hernandez, 46. David Vazquez, 42, and David Calleros, 26, were responsible for loading the marijuana into the tractor-trailer rig in El Paso.

After the loss of the marijuana load, Rafael Vega, 26, Cesar Obregon-Reyes, 21, and Omar Obregon-Ortiz, 21, kidnapped Sergio Saucedo from his home in Horizon City, Texas. The kidnapers took Saucedo to Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, where he was murdered and mutilated in retaliation.

“The charges of kidnapping and murder should send the clear message that such violence will not be tolerated in the United States. We will aggressively prosecute all provable acts of violence committed within our jurisdiction, and those engaged in such acts will be severely punished,” U.S. Attorney John E. Murphy said after the arrests were announced.

“These arrests demonstrate that when spillover violence does rarely happen in our city, law enforcement makes every effort to bring to justice those people who committed these crimes,” said FBI Special Agent in Charge David Cuthbertson.

The Horizon City kidnapping incident that occurred in September of 2009 was a high profile case that received national attention.

Upon conviction, Vega, Omar Obregon and Omar Obregon could be sentenced to life in federal prison; if they are convicted of the kidnapping or murder for hire, the law provides that they shall be sentenced to death or life imprisonment. Ashley, Hernandez, Pena and Calleros face between five and 40 years in prison if convicted.

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