Four Mexican journalists abducted on Monday afternoon in the city of Gómez Palacio remain in the custody of a group of gunmen, according to news reports on Thursday. Gómez Palacio is located in the northern state of Durango, a region wracked by a brutal turf war between the Zetas and Sinaloa drug cartels.

The four journalists are: Jaime Canales, a cameraman at Laguna Multimedia; Óscar Solís, who reports for local newspaper El Vespertino; Alejandro Hernandez; and Hector Gordoa, cameramen with national television network Televisa.

The journalists had been covering an ongoing scandal at the prison in Gómez Palacio when they were abducted. The prison’s director, Margarita Rojas Rodriguez, has been arrested following accusations that she allowed inmates to use prison vehicles and weapons to commit crimes. Mexican authorities linked inmates to the massacre of 17 people at a party in nearby Torreon city last week, and found shell casings at the massacre matching those from prison weapons. Inmates are now demanding the director’s reinstatement, Milenio Diario reported.

The newspaper said the journalists’ news organizations lost contact with the kidnapped journalists around 3 pm Monday afternoon.

Canales contacted Laguna Multimedia a few hours later with the message that the gunmen would only release him and the other journalists if three online videos were aired, Milenio Diario reported Wednesday.

The unedited footage was duly aired on Tuesday. The videos reportedly show a police officer and others accusing police of collaborating with the Zetas cartel in the cities of Torreón, Gómez Palacio and Lerdo.

The story of the journalists’ abduction had been kept secret out of consideration for their safety, but was broken Tuesday when Mexico’s National Human Rights Commission condemned the abduction, according to The Wall Street Journal.

“IPI is deeply concerned for the safety of these four journalists,” said IPI Deputy Director Alison Bethel-McKenzie. “The Mexican authorities must do everything in their power to secure the safe release of the journalists and bring to justice their abductors. The climate of impunity which is fuelling such criminal acts must be addressed immediately.”