12/02/10 – This weekend the State Attorney General’s Office of Guanajuato (Procuraduría General de Justicia del Estado de Guanajuato) reported the detention of 15 members of the criminal organization Los Zetas. The detaniess have confessed to participating in four other kidnappings and killing three of the victims. The cell operated in the municipalities of Valle de Santiago, Cortázar, Salamanca and Celaya, extending to Querétaro, Hidalgo and Puebla. Among those detained are a former military elite, former police agent, and a former municipal agent of Coahuila.
Attorney General Carlos Zamarripa Aguirre specified that the kidnappers were detained following a line of investigation into the disappearance of a farmer from Valle de Santiago. The farmer, whose name is being kept from the public, was kidnapped on November 9th when two women in the criminal group invited him to drink a few beers at Los Ocalos. After kidnapping and securing the farmer in a safe house in Salamanca the kidnappers called the farmers family and requested money in exchange for his life, even after the victim had died in their care.
On November 26th, elements from the Specialized Unit in Combating Kidnapping (Unidad Especializada en el Combate al Secuestro ) and from the Special Operations in Reaction and Prevention Group (Grupo Especial de Reacción e Intervención) captured Omar Israel Romero Sánchez as he was attempting to collect the money. This then lead to another fourteen Los Zeta members being detained.
Sources:
El Universal. “Procuraduría detiene a 15 “zetas” en Guanajuato.” 30 Noviembre, 2010.
Milenio. “Caen 15 Zetas que disolvían víctimas.” 30 Noviembre, 2010.
