A gang leader's mother pleaded with her son to release a person kidnapped by him. (Representational)
A woman pleaded with her gang-leader son on Wednesday to free a man he abducted, after villagers in Mexico seized her in reprisal, local media reported.
The woman, whose identity was not immediately confirmed, appears in a video posted by the newspaper Milenio.
"Son, if you have (Isauro de Paz Duque), hand him over, please. If you have him, I know that you are going to hand him over. Do it, please," said the woman, believed to be Maria Felix del Monte, mother of gang leader Raybel Jacobo de Almonte, known as El Tequilero (The Tequila Drinker).
On Sunday, townspeople in San Miguel Totolapan formed a vigilante group after Paz Duque, an engineer, was kidnapped, allegedly by the gang known as Los Tequileros.
Guerrero state public safety officials say the vigilantes are holding 18 people including the mother of the gang leader.
Residents of the town in southern Mexico have said they decided to detain several people they accuse of colluding with the gang as well as the mother of its leader.
Some 220 soldiers and police were deployed to San Miguel Totolapan to "avoid a confrontation," Guerrero state Governor Arturo Astudillo told reporters Tuesday.
A video has circulated on YouTube showing the vigilantes carrying weapons and explaining that they took up arms in response to crimes committed by Los Tequileros.
"They have humiliated us. They have killed our families and we won't let it happen again," one of the vigilantes says.
Guerrero has endured years of violence linked to turf wars between drug cartels fighting for control of the state's opium poppy and heroin production areas.