Mexican authorities are now investigating the disappearance of U.S. Marine Armando Torres III and two of his relatives in the border city of Matamoros, apparently linked to a dispute over land, said a source to Efe from the Tamaulipas state prosecutor office.

Torres crossed from Texas into Tamaulipas, Mexico on May 14th to visit his family, and on that same night an armed group allegedly took him from the ranch "La Barranca" along with his father and uncle, both from Mexico, according to the U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI).

The source from state prosecutor's office of Tamaulipas said that on May 15 they received an email from Luis Barberena (FBI agent) requesting for assistance to located the missing Marine, 25, who was enlisted in the reserves.

The prosecutor's office opened investigations through the state police, which included a visit to ranch La Barranca (located near the International Bridge "Los Indios", and interviewed people close to the Torres family.

The investigation established that Armando Torres, Armando Torres II's father and grandfather of the missing Marine, had sold part of his land two years earlier to a person identified as Jesus Pecina Chaires, who is currently in a U.S. jail for reasons yet not known said the source.

According to the same source, after the death of Armando Torres, Armando Torres II and his brother Salvador Torres decided not to honor the deal between his father and Jesus Pecina, including the money that for two years Pecina was paying towards the land.

Cristina Torres, the marine's sister, who lives in the U.S., told the newspaper "The Monitor" in Texas that drug dealers have been trying to seize the property because of its proximity to the border.

Armando Torres III recently retired from active duty in the U.S. Marine Corps where he served for seven years.

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Omar.Martinez@Sandiegored.com