Mexican footballer Alan Pulido fights kidnappers to gain freedom

Mexican football player Alan Pulido freed himself from his kidnappers on Sunday, May 29 after midnight after he punched one of his captors, snatched a mobile phone and dialed Mexico's emergency number.

The Associated Press obtained an official summary report of three calls made by Pulido to an emergency operator revealing that the footballer was largely responsible for his own escape, contrary to initial official accounts that Pulido was rescued.

According to the summary report, the 25-year-old striker for the Greek football team Olympiakos, beat one of his captors while on the phone and demanded for their location. Pulido also described the location outside as he peered out of a window and saw state police arriving. He managed to get hold of a pistol but found that it wasn't loaded. He also described what he was wearing – multicolored tank top and shorts – so the police wouldn't confuse him as they began firing. He was free, minutes later.

"There was an exchange of punches between them," Attorney General Ismael Quintanilla for Tamaulipas state narrated during an interview with Imagen Radio, as reported by AP.

Pulido was kidnapped at about 11:30 p.m. Saturday, May 28 on a highway after returning from a party with his girlfriend. Four armed men took Pulido away while leaving his girlfriend unharmed.

Quintanilla said that a ransom call was first made to Pulido's family at 1:30 p.m. Sunday followed shortly by a second one.

"Everyone began to activate to look for him, especially when we knew who he was, because we knew it was going to make a big ruckus and was going to be affecting us a lot in the press," said Quintanilla, who added that the army, federal and state police participated in the search, including three helicopters.

Pulido, with a bandaged right hand from breaking a window, appeared alongside Gov. Egidio Torre Cantú before reporters after he was freed. On Monday afternoon, he took to Twitter to thank everyone who prayed for him, including the state and federal authorities.

Tamaulipas is reportedly home to two warring criminal groups, the Gulf and Zetas drug cartels. Official records list 5,000 as "disappeared" out of 26,000 reported missing just last year. However, Families and Friends of the Disappeared in Tamaulipas reports 11,000 people unaccounted for, as reported by Al Jazeera.