Three men dressed as killer clowns kidnapped girl, 7, by luring her into van with sweets… then texted mystery man ‘we have the package’

THREE men dressed in killer clown costumes lured a seven-year-old girl into their van and then texted a mystery man, telling him “we have the package”.

The horrifying incident took place in the municipality of Nezahualcoyotl, in the central Mexican state of Mexico.

Local media report three men, named in reports as Ulises Leonardo, 25, Angel Ivan, 24, and Gerardo Arturo, 35, dressed up in clown outfits to carry out the crime.

One of the men detained is seen wearing a white bomber-style jacket with clown faces on it while a second has on a brightly-coloured sleeveless jacket.

The third man is seen wearing a t-shirt and a bright pink waistcoat with the characters Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny on it. He has also painted his face white and pink.

The trio reportedly offered sweets and toys to a seven-year-old girl, who has not been named in reports, while they were sat in a van.

They managed to tempt the youngster into the vehicle and even sent a text message to an unknown recipient saying “we are carrying the package”.

However, the girl’s mother quickly called the cops and enlisted the help of her neighbours to search for the girl.

The suspects were reportedly caught some minutes later not far from where the incident took place.

The motivation behind the kidnapping is unclear and the investigation is ongoing.

Photos taken by the police of the suspects shows them in clown outfits, with one of them in full make-up.

The National Survey of Victimisation in Mexico showed that 81,291 Mexicans admitted that they, or a member of their family, had been kidnapped in 2017, a report by Infobae said.

Veracruz has been the scene of a gruesome rivalry between drug cartels in recent years as well as alleged government corruption, leading to an “explosive cocktail of violence,” according to an Al Jazeera report.

The killer clown craze appears to have started in the UK in 2016 it hasn’t entirely gone away.

While the craze began in 2016, it continued into 2017 with pranksters carrying out stunts including gathering outside of schools dressed as clowns to scare kids.

In September 2018 a knifeman shouted “run or die” at two boys in Dartford, Kent, and a branch of Sainsbury’s in Prestwich, Greater Manchester, was raided by a man in one of the masks.