EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Police in Juarez have arrested two alleged kidnappers and freed three hostages, including two migrants from Guatemala and a woman from Mexico.

The migrants were in a home in Colonia Galeana in South Juarez where the kidnappers tied them to a chair and recorded themselves beating their victims, according to the Chihuahua state police.

The recording was then forwarded to the relatives of the Guatemalans, who were told to make an electronic transfer of $7,000 to a bank account in Mexico if they wanted their kin freed, police said.

But even though the transfer took place, the kidnappers kept their hostages. “Based on intelligence work, the investigating agents arrived at a home where they detained the responsible parties,” the Chihuahua state police said in a news release. The agents rescued the hostages and police arrested two men, Carlos V.P. and Gabriel A.D., on Thursday.

Also, on Thursday, the state police and a special Mexican army unit rescued a woman who apparently was being kept prisoner by drug cartel members. The woman was found inside a home in the Parajes de San Jose neighborhood of southeast Juarez, badly beaten and with two fingers having been amputated. No arrests have been made in that case.