MEXICO CITY, June 26 (Xinhua) -- Armed assailants rounded up at least eight people at a restaurant in Mexico's northwest state of Sinaloa in the pre-dawn hours of Monday, state authorities said.
The brazen mass kidnapping took place between 1:30 a.m. and 2 a.m. local time (0630 and 0700 GMT) at Mar & Sea, a restaurant in the state capital Culiacan, according to the state Secretariat of Public Security.
Initial reports said 12 to 15 people had been abducted, but Public Security Secretary Cristobal Castaneda said police determined the actual number was eight.
The restaurant, popular among local politicians and businessmen, was the site of another crime-related incident in 2014, local media said.
"On Feb. 6 of that year, Ivan Archivaldo Guzman (the son of drug lord Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman) managed to escape (capture) dressed as a waiter and wearing an apron," the daily Milenio said on its website.
Officials were trying to determine whether Monday's victims were clients or employees of the restaurant, media said.
The state has seen an uptick in violence since El Chapo was extradited to the United States in January, as rival drug cartels fight each other for control of the lucrative drug market.
