Mexican police catch drug kingpin
Source: Agencies |
January 14, 2010, Thursday
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MEXICAN police captured a drug kingpin on Tuesday known for having the corpses of tortured rivals dissolved in acid and blamed for much of a surge in violence in the northern border city of Tijuana.
In a fresh victory for Mexico's bloody war on drug gangs, Teodoro Garcia Simental was caught in southern Baja California early Tuesday, police said.
Garcia Simental, also known as "El Teo," was apprehended when an elite force of 50 federal police raided an upscale neighborhood in the beach town of La Paz. They searched several houses before finding him.
"No shots were fired. It was a very fast operation. The investigation has been going on for a long time," said a police officer. Garcia Simental, who had about 440,000 pesos (US$34,500) on him in cash, was handcuffed and swiftly flown to Mexico City.
The top smuggler split from the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel to help Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman - head of the rival Sinaloa cartel and Mexico's most wanted man - wrest control of key smuggling corridors in northern Mexico.
His arrest marks a second major victory for President Felipe Calderon in recent weeks after an elite navy force in December killed a drug lord from western Mexico, Arturo Beltran Leyva, at a luxury apartment complex near Mexico City.
Calderon declared war on drug traffickers when he came to power in late 2006, but his clampdown has only worsened brutal turf wars between gangs that have left more than 17,000 people dead across Mexico over three years.
The spiraling violence has alarmed the United States government, which is backing Calderon's crackdown, and is rattling foreign investors and tourists.
US Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual hailed Garcia Simental's capture as a sign Mexico was getting better at fighting drug traffickers.
The Mexican government had offered a reward of up to 30 million pesos for information leading to the capture of Garcia Simental.
Garcia Simental, thought to be in his mid-thirties, and his hitmen are known to favor gruesome killing methods that included torture and decapitation.
His name made national headlines when police arrested a man called Santiago Meza, dubbed "El Teo's cook," who confessed to having used barrels of corrosive acid to dispose of the bodies of some 300 people killed by Garcia Simental's gang.
In a fresh victory for Mexico's bloody war on drug gangs, Teodoro Garcia Simental was caught in southern Baja California early Tuesday, police said.
Garcia Simental, also known as "El Teo," was apprehended when an elite force of 50 federal police raided an upscale neighborhood in the beach town of La Paz. They searched several houses before finding him.
"No shots were fired. It was a very fast operation. The investigation has been going on for a long time," said a police officer. Garcia Simental, who had about 440,000 pesos (US$34,500) on him in cash, was handcuffed and swiftly flown to Mexico City.
The top smuggler split from the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel to help Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman - head of the rival Sinaloa cartel and Mexico's most wanted man - wrest control of key smuggling corridors in northern Mexico.
His arrest marks a second major victory for President Felipe Calderon in recent weeks after an elite navy force in December killed a drug lord from western Mexico, Arturo Beltran Leyva, at a luxury apartment complex near Mexico City.
Calderon declared war on drug traffickers when he came to power in late 2006, but his clampdown has only worsened brutal turf wars between gangs that have left more than 17,000 people dead across Mexico over three years.
The spiraling violence has alarmed the United States government, which is backing Calderon's crackdown, and is rattling foreign investors and tourists.
US Ambassador to Mexico Carlos Pascual hailed Garcia Simental's capture as a sign Mexico was getting better at fighting drug traffickers.
The Mexican government had offered a reward of up to 30 million pesos for information leading to the capture of Garcia Simental.
Garcia Simental, thought to be in his mid-thirties, and his hitmen are known to favor gruesome killing methods that included torture and decapitation.
His name made national headlines when police arrested a man called Santiago Meza, dubbed "El Teo's cook," who confessed to having used barrels of corrosive acid to dispose of the bodies of some 300 people killed by Garcia Simental's gang.
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