Three American women who went to sell clothes at a street market in Mexico have been missing for about three weeks, the police chief of a small Texas town said on Saturday.

Marina Perez Rios, 48, her sister Maritza Trinidad Perez Rios, 47, and their friend Dora Alicia Cervantes Saenz, 53, crossed into Mexico on February 24.

Women living in Texas flocked to Montemorelos in northeastern Mexico to sell clothes at a market, Roel Bermea, police chief of the small town of Penitas, confirmed to AFP.

After several days without any news, the husband of one of them reported their disappearance to the authorities in Penita, very close to the border.

The reasons for the disappearance are currently unknown. “We don’t know if they got there” (to Montemorelos), Mr. Bermea said.

The road to the Mexican city from the border takes about three hours.

According to police chief Penitas, the FBI was notified of the case.

On Monday, four US citizens were abducted, two of them killed in Matamoros, also in northeastern Mexico. They were crossing the border to receive medical treatment in Mexico, a medical tourism destination, when they came under fire and were kidnapped by a group of militants.

On the eve of Friday, Mexican authorities announced the arrest of five people allegedly involved in the kidnapping.