MEXICO: Six Zetas drug gang members arrested with deadly weapons in Guadalajara ahead of Pan American games

Record ID: 1479187

  • Title: MEXICO: Six Zetas drug gang members arrested with deadly weapons in Guadalajara ahead of Pan American games
  • Date: 3rd October 2011
  • Summary: GUADALAJARA, JALISCO, MEXICO (OCTOBER 1, 2011) (REUTERS) POLICE BRING OUT SUSPECTED ZETAS MEMBERS TO BE PARADED IN FRONT OF THE MEDIA VARIOUS OF RIFLES, ROCKET PROPELLED GRENADE (RPG) LAUNCHER AND AMMUNITION DISPLAYED ON TABLE SUSPECTED ZETAS MEMBER FACING THE WALL WITH THEIR HAND IN CUFFS BEHIND THEIR BACKS CLOSE UP OF RPG CLOSE OF HANDCUFFS SUSPECTED ZETAS MEMBERS
  • Embargoed: 18th October 2011 05:11
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA50V38VYLZEOYCRXBHKXKEDV4W
  • Aspect Ratio: 4:3
  • Story Text: Mexican authorities arrested six suspected members of the brutal Zetas drug gang on Saturday (October 2) in Mexico's second city, Guadalajara, in the state of Jalisco.
    Police confirmed the arrest of five men and a women at a house in the suburb of Zapopan and seized a large weapons cache that included a rocket propelled grenade launcher and 12 assault rifles.
    The arrest of the six suspects came after police were tipped off by residents who had seen a group of people in the Zapopan suburb carrying high calibre rifles.
    "One of them said they belonged to the Zetas group. They said they were waiting for some trucks to supposedly have a confrontation with another armed group. They didn't say which," said Manuel Miranda, the police chief for the Zapopan suburb of Guadalajara.
    The arrest of the suspected Zetas members with such firepower is sure to raise concerns about the city's ability to host thousands of athletes and tens of thousands of fans from across the Americas at the Pan American Games this month.
    Authorities hope the October 14-30 event will serve Guadalajara the way the 1992 Olympics made Spain's Barcelona a top tourist destination and boosted its international image.
    Guadalajara is the capital of the western state of Jalisco, home to Mexico's mariachi music and tequila, and was for long spared the beheadings and drive-by shootings tainting other areas of the country.
    But drug killings in Jalisco have been rising at an alarming rate. The number of drug-related murders doubled between 2009 and 2010.
    Turf wars between the Zetas and other cartels have transformed parts of Mexico into lawless killing grounds and scared away some foreign investors.
    Around 40,000 people have died in Mexico's drug wars since President Felipe Calderon took office in December 2006. Calderon has deployed the military to the streets to attack the powerful cartels.
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