BajaNomad

Mexico says drug lord taken down by accident

Gypsy Jan - 10-11-2012 at 03:20 PM

From The Associated Press

Mexico's Navy says that marines that killed drug lord Heriberto Lazcano did not know it was him, but rather just a common criminal.

Story Highlights:

Mexican marines killed drug lord Heriberto Lazcano

Navy spokesman claims marines though Lazcano was a 'common criminal'

Fingerprint testing confirmed dead body was Lazcano

MEXICO CITY (AP) - "The Mexican navy says a team of marines had no idea that they had killed the leader of the country's most-feared drug cartel in a gunfight that erupted when they tried to search a group of suspicious men outside a baseball stadium.

Rear Admiral Jose Luis Vergara is the chief navy spokesman and he said in radio and television interviews Wednesday that Heriberto Lazcano's body was left at a funeral home after Sunday's gunfight because marines believed he was a common criminal and didn't suspect that had just taken down the leader of the Zetas cartel.

Vergara said authorities only realized they had killed a significant figure when armed men stole the body from the funeral home. Fingerprint testing confirmed the dead man was Lazcano."