Thread: Police in Mexico arrest 'out of control' hit squad

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Police in Mexico arrest 'out of control' hit squad
09:26 AM CDT on Wednesday, August 17, 2005


By TRACEY EATON / The Dallas Morning News


Acting on a tip, police in Monterrey, Mexico, captured a heavily armed hit squad blamed for at least some of the recent killings of police officers in Nuevo Laredo, U.S. and Mexican authorities said Tuesday.

Nuevo Leon state police arrested at least 20 people early Tuesday at a restaurant in an upscale Monterrey neighborhood.

The suspects' own higher-ups had turned them in because the hit squad had gotten too violent and was "out of control," said a U.S. investigator with knowledge of the arrests.

"Instead of having you killed, they'd rather have you arrested," the investigator said on condition of anonymity. "So they got these people off their payroll and now everyone is happy."

Among those taken into custody was a man sought in connection with the May 9 murder of Luis Ricardo Lugo, a former Dallas resident and cousin of Gilberto Lugo, a reputed drug trafficker who is in jail awaiting trial, the investigator said.

He and and the other suspects are believed to work for reputed drug boss Arturo Beltrán Leyva, who – along with suspected kingpin Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzmán – has been fighting for control of smuggling routes in Nuevo Laredo.

The turf battle in the border city has left at least 111 people dead this year, including 21 current and former police officers.

The arrests won't end the bloodshed but could lessen it, the U.S. investigator said.

"These are some heavily armed people," he said. "This was a big bust."

No shots were fired, and no one was hurt during the arrests, Nuevo Leon investigator Marcelo Garza y Garza told reporters in Monterrey.

Police seized nine pistols, three grenades, a machine-gun and at least 12 vehicles, some of them armored, Mr. Garza y Garza said.

Those arrested included three former state police investigators and one police officer according to Mexican news service reports.

The Lugo murder occurred in May when assailants gunned down Mr. Lugo and another relative in front of horrified patrons at a Dave & Buster's restaurant and game room in Monterrey.

More recently, the hit squad threatened the police chief in Monterrey, an episode that led their superiors in the cartel to tip off state police, who swept in and arrested them at the restaurant, the American investigator said.

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