MEXICO: Hitman accused of killing 25 people is arrested in Juarez, while border town mayor is killed

Record ID: 303915

  • Title: MEXICO: Hitman accused of killing 25 people is arrested in Juarez, while border town mayor is killed
  • Date: 10th October 2009
  • Summary: CIUDAD JUAREZ, CHIHUAHUA, MEXICO (OCTOBER 09, 2009) (REUTERS) JUAN PABLO CASTRO LED BY POLICE OFFICERS VARIOUS OF CASTRO BEING PRESENTED TO THE MEDIA VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS NEXT TO PICK-UP VEHICLE / WITH MACHINE GUNS SOLDIERS / MAN PRESENTED TO MEDIA SEIZED WEAPONS MARIJUANA SOLDIER / SUV SUV VARIOUS OF HIDDEN COMPARTMENTS FOR WEAPONS AND NAILS SOLDIERS INSIDE VEHICLE SUV NUMBER PLATE SOLDIERS SHOWING HOW NAILS ARE RELEASED FROM MOVING VEHICLE NAILS ON ROAD (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) ARMY SPOKESPERSON ENRIQUE TORRES, SAYING: "This person was arrested and held for eleven months at the state penitentiary after being detained together with nine other men last year for alleged crimes and for firing weapons as well as for extortion and kidnapping and the killing of 23 people in the city. On this occasion, when he left prison one month ago, this person said he was also responsible for two more homicides." TOW TRUCK AND SUV VARIOUS OF INCINERATED VEHICLE
  • Embargoed: 25th October 2009 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Reuters ID: LVA24RBMKRDN4V5JXT6G8WE5296M
  • Story Text: Authorities parade gunmen accused of killing 25 people to the media and seize vehicle designed to thwart police chases. The top official of the border town of Palomas, across from New Mexico is kidnapped and killed.
    The Mexican army recaptured a hitman accused of killing 25 people and for working with a gang called the Aztecs in the infamously violent city of Ciudad Juarez on Thursday (October 09).
    Twenty-seven-year-old Juan Pablo Castro was arrested with an SUV equipped to thwart police chases. The vehicle had hidden compartments to store guns, rifles, drugs and mechanisms to release nails on to the road to puncture tires.
    Police found 12 kilos of neatly packed marijuana in one of the secret compartments.
    Castro, who was paraded in front of the media wearing a florescent yellow body suit, was released from prison last September where he spent less than a year after confessing to having killed 23 people and taken part in several kidnappings around the city.
    Two days out of prison, Castro told police he had also killed two brothers. He is also accused of extortion.
    "This person was arrested and held for eleven months at the state penitentiary after being detained together with nine other men last year for alleged crimes and for firing weapons as well as for extortion and kidnapping and the killing of 23 people in the city. On this occasion, when he left prison one month ago, this person said he was also responsible for two more homicides," said army spokesperson Enrique Torres.
    Meanwhile, unknown killers kidnapped and killed the top official of the border town of Palomas, across from New Mexico on Thursday.
    The incinerated human remains of town mayor Estanislao Garcia who had complained about the activity of drug traffickers in the area, were found by authorities inside a vehicle.
    In 2008, the police chief of Palomas sought asylum in the United States after he was abandoned by his deputies and after receiving death threats. Authorities then took over law enforcement in the gritty town of Palomas.
    Garcia had led protests against high electricity costs and some residents had demanded his resignation for mishandling civic funds. Garcia said he had received death threats from organized criminals and feared for his life.
    More than 14,000 people, mostly smugglers and police, have died in drug violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderon launched his crackdown in late 2006.
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