( CNN ) -- Mexico 's top security official says the Sinaloa drug cartel was likely behind the kidnapping of a group of four journalists , two of whom were freed in a police rescue . The kidnappers wanted to use the reporters , who were connected with some of Mexico 's largest news organizations , to force the media to transmit `` criminal messages , '' Mexican Public Safety Secretary Genaro Garcia Luna told reporters Saturday . A federal police rescue freed two of the four journalists , who were kidnapped Monday while covering a riot at a prison in the northern state of Durango , Garcia Luna said . A third was released Thursday . But the whereabouts of the fourth reporter were unclear Sunday . The two rescued journalists sat beside Garcia Luna and described their captivity to reporters Saturday . `` It is a sad and bitter experience that nobody wants even the worst of their enemies to go through , '' Multimedios camerman Javier Canales said , noting that he suffered psychological abuse and threats . `` Since the moment they took us , we thought they were going to kill us , '' Televisa Laguna photojournalist Alejandro Hernandez said , according to state news agency Notimex . Their kidnapping was a high-profile reminder of an issue that has been increasingly common amid Mexico 's escalating drug war : violence against the journalists who cover it . The journalists were kidnapped Monday while reporting on a protest by inmates and relatives at a local prison , which made news after Mexico 's Attorney General 's office revealed guards there let free a squad of imprisoned hit men to carry out a massacre of 17 people in a nearby town . The journalists were abducted in the Laguna region , Mexico 's National Commission for Human Rights said -- an area which has been the scene of vicious fighting between the Zetas crime group and the Sinaloa cartel . It includes the state of Durango and parts of neighboring Coahuila . On Friday , the signal of one of Mexico 's largest television networks faded to black for almost an hour as a symbolic protest . `` We will not pretend that nothing is happening , '' said Denise Maerker , anchor of Televisa 's `` Punto de Partida '' as she opened the show . Critics have said the government does not do enough to hold criminals accountable . On Friday , Mexico City 's Milenio newspaper published an editorial calling on the government to step up its game to solve the hostage situation . In the editorial , journalist Ciro Gomez Leyva alluded to demands from the kidnappers for the media to publish certain images in return for the release of the journalists . `` That is not our duty . The media is not designed nor equipped to negotiate in a hostage situation , '' Gomez wrote . Garcia Luna said Saturday that investigations would continue to determine who was responsible . `` The Mexican state is above any criminal organization or group and is much stronger than these organizations , '' he said . The powerful Sinaloa cartel , which Garcia Luna said may have been behind the kidnapping , transports multi-ton quantities of drugs from Mexico to the U.S. , according to the Drug Enforcement Administration . Forbes magazine has estimated the fortune of its leader , Joaquín `` El Chapo '' Guzmán Loera , at $ 1 billion . He escaped from a Mexican prison in 2001 . CNN 's Krupskaia Alis and Gustavo Valdes contributed to this report .
Mexican official says Gustavo Valdes was likely behind the kidnapping . Police rescue four of the two kidnapped journalists . Another reporter was released Monday . The journalists were kidnapped while covering a prison protest .