And Then There was the Sister of El Muletas

Tijuana, BC - Four suspected members of a kidnapping ring linked to the Arellano Félix drug gang were in custody on February 19, 2010, accused of at least six abductions in the Tijuana area, Baja California authorities said.

Authorities said they belonged to a criminal cell with more than 10 members who kidnapped and killed their victims. The detentions resulted from a six-month investigation by the state’s anti-kidnapping squad, said Attorney General Rommel Moreno Manjarrez.

Arrested Tuesday at a body shop was Andres Pacheco Contreras, 21, whose job was to make sure no police were around when crimes occurred, authorities said. The other detainees were Armando Molina Juárez, 37; César Guadalupe Peñuelas Cázares, 36; and Julio César Peñuelas Juárez, 35 who allegedly confessed to carrying out between 15 and 20 abductions.

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Federal Police Interview Muletas and Chiquilin

Tijuana, BC - The SSP produced video of narco-trafficker Jose Manuel Garcia Simental, "El Chiquilín" and Raydel Lopez Uriarte, "El Muletas" after being arrested. Both are linked to the Sinaloa cartel.

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More on the Military Operation in TJ

Tijuana, BC - More information on the huge military operation in Tijuana that ended in the arrest of Mexican police officers, including some high commanders. This was due to the arrest of "El Muletas."

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Successors Detained in Front of Press

Successors of Eduardo Garcia Simental, "El Teo" are arrested.

Tijuana, BC - It was as a result of the systematization and processing of confidential information through the Intelligence Center that the Federal Police arrested Jose Manuel Garcia Simental, known as El Chiquilín and Raydel Lopez Uriarte, aka El Muletas, successors of the criminal organization of Joaquin Guzman, alias "El Chapo" and Ismael Zambada, alias "El Mayo."

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El Muletas Presented to the Media

Tijuana, BC - Oh boy! The information of the capture of El Muletas continues to pour in. As we reported here as it happened, The Crutches and El Chiquilin (does not look too small to me) were taken in custody without the police having to fire a single shot (not living up to his name as portrayed in his narco corridos).

Fuerzas Especiales del el Muletas ( Crutche's Special Forces ).

Here they are presented to the media in this video.

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Crackdown of Drug Cartels Nets Police Commanders

A suspect man wearing a police officer uniform who alleged was working for a drug cartel in Tijuana, center, is guarded by federal police as he is presented to the press in Mexico City, Tuesday, Feb. 9, 2010. The man was arrested yesterday in Baja California, along with other alleged key members of a drug cartel operating in the border town of Tijuana.

The Associated Press

Tijuana, BC - A crackdown on a vicious Mexican drug gang has led to the arrest of five Tijuana police officers, including two who had been at the forefront of the border city's efforts to rid the force of corruption.

The five officers were caught at a house along with six cartel members who were holding two rival gangsters captive, Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of the federal police, said at a news conference Tuesday.

Pequeno said federal police raided the house Monday based on information obtained after the arrest of the two remaining leaders of the gang led by Teodoro "El Teo" Garcia Simental, the reputed Tijuana drug lord captured last month.

The capture of his two alleged lieutenants, including his brother Manuel Garcia Simental, dealt a crippling blow to a gang that had terrorized the city, which faces San Diego.

The gang was known for its brutality, having executed, beheaded and mutilated hundreds of rivals. Gang members pinned notes to corpses and dissolved bodies in caustic soda.

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Police Officers Arrested

Tijuana BC - The military operations in the city continued until the early hours of Tuesday, motivated, from the first declarations of “El Muletas” and “El Chiquilín.”

The Ministry of Federal Public Security released the names of the people arrested following several raids in Tijuana, arising from the arrest of the "El Muletas" and "El Chiquilín." Also some people that had been abducted were rescued in various operations.

Among the arrested were active police officers from the Tijuana police department, a former ministerial police and other subjects. In relation to the rest of the municipal police apprehended, there is a chief and a police supervisor from the delegation of Sanchez Taboada

Unofficially, it was learned that among the municipal detainees are at least two senior officers. They are Francisco Ortega Zamora, who just last December 18 was appointed district chief of the delegation of La Mesa, as well as the operational commander Ramon Angel Soto Corral.

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More on the Arrest of El Muletas

Tijuana BC - It’s the second time in a very short period time a black AH 60 helicopter flies in low circles at the Fidepaz neighborhood in La Paz, BCS.

The next day there is the following out of the news sources. Mexican federal police arrested two suspected gang leaders Monday, delivering another big blow to a brutal drug cartel that terrorized the border city of Tijuana for several years.

Commando uniforms taken during an operation bearing the skull with crossed crutches.

The capture of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental apparently wipes out the existing leadership of the cartel headed by Teodoro Garcia Simental, who was captured last month. Teodoro and Manuel Garcia are brothers. Lopez, known as “El Muletas,” and Garcia, known as “El Chiquilin,” were arrested Monday in La Paz.

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The Muletas Fallout Under Way

The Mexican government confirms the capture.

Tijuana, BC - The Federal Public Security Secretariat in Mexico City confirmed yesterday that they indeed arrested Raydel Lopez Uriarte, aka "El Muletas" and Manuel Garcia Simental, known as "El Chiquilín,." (As it was reported here in Borderland Beat before most of the media outlets). "El Muletas" who they have identified as the "successor" to Eduardo Teodoro Garcia Simental, "El Teo" or "El Tres Letras" was also associated with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman in this border town.

Detention of police members.

Municipal police officers as well as others from different agencies are being transferred to military installation, apparently detained following the arrests yesterday morning of Raydel Lopez Uriarte and Manuel Garcia Simental in La Paz, Baja California Sur. There is a lot of secrecy surrounding this whole issue, however it is believed that among them are at least two officers of high command, one of which could be a retired military officer that was recently appointed by the current authorities.

El Muletas talks and the operations are under way.

Elements of the Mexican military conducted operations in the early hours of Monday, at various points in the city, apparently as a result of the first confessions provided by "El Muletas" and "El Chiquilín" who were arrested during the course of yesterday.

More information as it becomes available.

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El Muletas Falls

“El Muletas” and “El Chiquilín” fall in La Paz.
Member of Mexican drug gang is arrested.

Tijuana, BC - A much-sought member of a violent drug gang operating in the Tijuana region has been captured by Mexican federal police forces in Baja California Sur, U.S. officials said.

Raydel Lopez Uriarte, known as El Muletas or Crutches, was reportedly arrested Monday morning in the capital of La Paz. Raydel Lopez Uriarte was considered the leader of the criminal cell that had been previously led by "El Teo", who were engaged in a bloody dispute over turf with Francisco Sanchez Arellano (a) "El Ingeniero", the head of the Arellano Felix cartel.

Lopez’s detention, confirmed Monday by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, comes less than a month after the detention of his former associate, Teodoro Garcia Simental, or El Teo, in La Paz.

Until his capture, Garcia had headed the drug-trafficking group, which is known for targeting police officers, conducting numerous kidnappings in the area and beheading victims.

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