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16 Local Cops Detained for Mass Murder, Alleged Los Zetas Perps Busted
By Chris Covert

A total 55 individuals including 16 municipal police officers in San Fernando municipality, Tamaulipas, have been arrested and sent to preventative detention, as Mexican federal officials continue their investigation in the worst mass murder in modern Mexican history, according to Mexican news accounts.

A total of 145 individuals have been found in graves in San Fernando municipality since two weeks ago, most of whom were kidnapped from at least two public buses travelling between Ciudad Victoria and Matamoros, Tamaulipas between March 19th and March 31st.

The 16 police officers are accused of having knowledge of the kidnappings and murders, and of covering up the murders.

Preventative detention is a legal device used by Mexican federal prosecutors to detain individuals suspected in serious crimes, with the idea of preventing them from performing other acts as legal authorities investigate their crimes. Preventative detention, colloquially known as "rooting", always requires a court order, and is usually granted when officials have sufficient evidence to convict, but require more time to establish other crimes or connections.

Preventative detention is granted for a definitive time. In the cases of the 55, forty days was ordered. The 40 day period is the usual amount of time granted to prosecutors, although as few as 20 days have been granted, such as in the Torreon bar murders cases against Durango top prison officials last year. Six months detention was recently ordered against three Juarez, Chihuahua police officers in the disappearance of four youth earlier in April, albeit six months is rare.
To read Rantburg reports on the Torreon bar murders click here and here. To read Rantburg reports on the preventative detention orders on the three Juarez, Chihuahua police officers, click here.
Included in the arrests of 39 others was Martin Omar Estrada Luna alias El Kilo and eleven other alleged members of the Zetas drug gang in a Mexican Marine operation last Saturday in Ciudad Victoria, Tamaulipas.

Estrada Luna and his associates allegedly attempted to evade marine forces in the area only to be captured. Also seized in that operation was one vehicle, two SUVs, an unreleased number of rifles, pistols and ammunition, three grenades, and 700 doses of cocaine.

Reports say that the Los Zetas drug gang have been linked to 217 murders in the San Fernando area including the 72 migrants last summer murdered because they refused to pay a tribute before being allowed to pass to the Tamaulipas border region.
To see the Rantburg report on the murder of the 72 migrants in San Fernando last summer, click here.
Estrada Luna is said to be the Los Zetas commander in the San Fernando area. Reports say he is linked to the murders of Secretario de Seguridad Publica de San Fernando, Juan Carlos Sanchez Suarez, and a prosecutor in the area, Roberto Jaime Suarez Vazquez. Estrada Luna is also suspected in cases of extortion, kidnapping and drug and arms trafficking unrelated to the San Fernando mass murder.

Two other related reports have been published in Mexican press:
  • The Hidalgo Secretaria de Gobierno (SEGOB), Fernando Moctezuma Pereda, announced Wednesday that in view of the mass kidnapping and murder in Tamaulipas, the state of Hidalgo would beef up highway patrols between Hidalgo and the states of San Luis Potosi and Veracruz to the north in an effort to stop movement of criminal groups and product on highways leading to the north.

    Hidalgo is a battleground between Los Zetas and the Gulf drug cartel. Referring to a Policia Federal report issued earlier this month criminal groups control roads in 30 municipalities in Hidalgo.

    Fernando Moctezuma Pereda said part of the new security strategy would be to set up checkpoints along the road to advise migrants about dangers they face further north.

  • In Reynosa, Tamaulipas, 68 individuals, including 12 Central American migrants, were released from capture by suspected members of the Gulf Cartel by elements of the Mexican Policia Federal.

    Reports are the hostages were kidnapped from a public bus station in Reynosa over the last few weeks while travelling to a truck manufacturing plant in Reynosa. Reynosa borders the US.

Posted by: badanov 2011-04-21
http://www.rantburg.com/poparticle.php?ID=320891