Woooosh - 1-24-2009 at 08:35 AM
The Mexican military yesterday announced the capture in Ensenada of a suspected drug traflicker who confessed to having dissolved the bodies of 300
victims in acid.
Santiago Meza Lopez, 45, was among three men and a girl detained by members of the First Amphibious Group Special Forces Unit and the Federal Police
near the toll road between Ensenada and Rosarito Beach.
In a brief interview with reporters in Ensenada, Meza said he was a former construction worker who worked for a drug trafficker named Eduardo Teodoro
Garcia Simental, who is known as El Teo. Law enforcement authorities say Garcia is a one-time member of the Arellano Félix cartel who broke off from
the organization this year and is believed to be behind much of the brutality in recent months as drug gangs fight over territory.
Meza said that the victims were already dead by the time he received them and that he didn't know their identities. He said it took about 24 hours to
dissolve them in barrels filled with acid. A military communique described the victims as Garcia's enemies and debtors.
Also detained were H6ctor Manuel Valenzuela Lobo, 45, who said he worked as a cook for Garcia, and Fernando Lopez Alarcon, who said he was Val-
enzuela's assistant.
In Tijuana yesterday, a prominent businessman was shot to death in the morning while driving to a gym for his daily workout, but his death is not
connected to the recent drug violence in the region, according to the Baja California Attorney General's Office.
Rafael Fimbres Hern Andez, 55, was part of the family that owns and operates the Calimax supermarket chain. The family also is a partner with the
Smart & Final stores in Mexico.
Fimbres was found about 7:30 a.m. in his 2006 Audi with a bullet wound in the chest. He was in the Hipodromo neighborhood, where many prominentlocals
live, Attorney Genera1 Rommel Moreno Manjarrez said at a news conference. Fimbres was taken to the state-run Hospital General, where he was pronounced
dead about one hour later.
The attorney general, who said he will personally lead the investigation, said Fimbres was not being kidnapped when he was slain. Furthermore, the
homicide wasn't the work of organized crhne, Moreno said. Investigators are still seeking a motive.
Including this slaying, there have been 10 homicides in Tijuana in the past week, according to data provided by the attorney general's office. The
total so far this year is 57.
Fimbres was the nephew of José Fimbres Moreno, whose family founded Calimax in 1939 and gave back to the community through private educational
institutions.
[Edited on 1-24-2009 by Woooosh]