Ten people killed and stripped naked by gunmen in Mexican beer hall linked to Zetas drug cartel

Updated 15 minutes ago


PHOTO: The Garcia beer hall where ten people were killed was a known location for the Zetas drug cartel's trafficking scheme, according to state investigators. (AFP: Julio Cesar Aguilar)

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MAP: Mexico

Ten people have been killed and their bodies stripped of clothing in a north Mexico beer hall linked to the ultra-violent Zetas drug cartel.

Gunmen arrived in broad daylight about 3:00pm local time in two vehicles and stormed the beer distribution centre at Garcia in the industrial city of Monterrey.

Seven people died on the spot and were stripped naked, while three other victims died after being rushed to hospital.

The assailants fled with $838 in cash before local police and soldiers rushed to the scene, an official in the state prosecutor's office said on the condition of anonymity.

State attorney general Nuevo Leon said the "main line of investigation" is that the shooting was linked to a dispute between criminal groups.

He added that seven kilograms of marijuana was found at the scene.

The Garcia beer hall was known to be used as the location for the Zetas drug cartel's trafficking scheme, according to state investigators who requested anonymity.

The drug lords behind Mexico's deadly turf war


Mexico's drug war claims one life every 35 minutes. Find out more about the main players behind the violence.


  • Gulf cartel: Mexico's oldest organised crime group.
  • Los Zetas: The largest drug cartel, set up by former Mexican soldiers.
  • Sinaloa: Formerly the Blood Alliance, considered one of the most powerful organised crime groups in the world.


Garcia is the hometown of Jaime "El Bronco" Rodriguez, the former-mayor who defied the Zetas and made international headlines in June when he was Mexico's first independent candidate to be elected governor.

While Rodriguez was mayor, he said he survived two assassination attempts and the brief kidnapping of his two-year-old daughter.

Zetas leader Omar Trevino, alias "Z-42", was captured in March in another Monterrey suburb, the upper-class district of San Pedro Garza Garcia.

The Zetas are accused of being behind an arson attack against a Monterrey casino that left 52 people dead in 2010.

The gang, founded by military deserters, was once the armed wing of the Gulf cartel until the two sides split in 2010, leading to bloody turf wars in north-western Mexican states.

Mexico's border states are major drug routes to the United States and have endured some of the worst violence in a drug war that has left more than 80,000 people dead and 22,000 missing across the country since 2006.

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2015-06-2...r-hall/6560652