MEXICO: Beltran Leyva cartel operator is shot dead in Mexico

Record ID: 303969

  • Title: MEXICO: Beltran Leyva cartel operator is shot dead in Mexico
  • Date: 28th May 2010
  • Summary: MONTERREY, NUEVO LEON, MEXICO (MAY 26, 2010) (ORIGINALLY 4:3) (REUTERS) VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS GUARDING AREA FORENSIC WORKERS CARRYING BODY OF KILLED DRUG TRAFFICKER ON STRETCHER SOLDIERS ARRIVING AT SCENE BODY BEING CARRIED ON STRETCHER TO BE PLACED IN FORENSIC VAN SOLDIER GUARDING AREA FORENSIC WORKERS CARRYING BODY TO PLACE IN VAN LEGAL EXPERT TALKING TO SOLDIER FORENSIC SERVICE VEHICLE WATER PUDDLE STAINED WITH BLOOD VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS AT CRIME SCENE VARIOUS OF SOLDIERS LEAVING ON MILITARY VEHICLES FOLLOWED BY FORENSIC SERVICE VEHICLE
  • Embargoed: 12th June 2010 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime / Law Enforcement
  • Reuters ID: LVA80XOMG16VN8IQUQ3X5OLK9JAP
  • Story Text: A Beltran Leyva cartel operator is shot dead after army shootout in a busy area of Monterrey's rich San Pedro Garza Garcia municipality.
    A suspected operative of the Beltran Leyva cartel died on Wednesday (May 26) in Monterrey during a shootout with the Mexican army.
    The alleged drug trafficker who went by the names of Sergio Martinez or Pedro Vazquez - also known as "La Pina" (Pineapple) - was in charge of operations for the criminal gang in a busy area of Monterrey's rich San Pedro Garza Garcia municipality.
    The Mexican army confirmed the shootout where Martinez died which started after the army was attacked by armed men while patrolling the local neighbourhood of San Jeronimo.
    After the shootout soldiers found Martinez's lifeless body and seized weapons, cartridges of different calibres, external hard drives, a laptop and two vehicles.
    Drug violence is surging in the northern industrial city of Monterrey and in nearby Reynosa on the U.S border as the powerful Gulf cartel battles its former armed wing, the Zetas. Black-clad enforcers from the Gulf cartel over the border from Texas are attacking the Zetas, who split away to try to form their own cartel earlier this year.
    Made up of elite former soldiers who switched sides to join the Gulf cartel in the 1990s, the Zetas are charging their old bosses taxes to use their routes, provoking almost daily shootouts as the two gangs face off along the border.
    Nevertheless, the Beltran Leyva cartel are also trying to encroach on the area.
    More than 23,000 people, mainly traffickers and police, have been killed in cartel turf wars and battles with security forces since then, alarming Mexicans and foreigners alike.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
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