A MEXICAN beauty queen is languishing in jail after being arrested on suspicion of belonging to a kidnap gang.

Laura Mojica Romero, 25, has been warned she faces up to 50 years in prison if convicted of the crimes she has been held on.

Laura was crowned Miss Oaxaca 2018 in a regional beauty contest in Mexico, and 2020 International Queen of Coffee beauty pageant in Colombia.

New photographs of the university graduate, who first made a name for herself as Miss Earth Oaxaca 2015, are now doing the rounds again.

But this time the snaps are her police mugshots.

The photos published by Mexican prosecutors show Romero alongside pictures of the seven other suspects held with her.

Laura, one of three women and five men arrested, has been identified only by her first name in a statement released by investigators in the eastern Mexican state of Veracruz.

The statement described her as one of “eight alleged members of a criminal organisation specialising in kidnap”. 

Prosecutors said an elite anti-kidnap unit had acted to ensure there was “no truce for people who cause serious harm to Veracruz.”

They added: “The capture of Luis Antonio “N”; Raúl “N”; María del Rosario “N”; Ana Martha “N”; Laura “N”; César Enrique “N”; Diego "N" and Jossiel "N" took place in Veracruz when personnel specialized in tackling kidnapping carried out an operation to capture those now linked to this judicial investigation.

“The eight alleged kidnappers have been remanded in custody for two months while the investigation continues.”

Laura is understood to have been held in Huatusco, in Veracruz.

The model defined herself as “more than just a pretty face” in an interview in January 2019 after her Miss Oaxaca triumph.

Laura, a business studies graduate, said her priorities included tackling the problem of violence against women.

“We can’t stand idly by, we have to eradicate violence against women, through campaigns and educational talks that make men aware of this issue,” she said.

She was described at the time as a fluent English speaker and a spokeswoman in the fight against breast cancer and leukaemia.

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