“Char” for Borderland Beat
This article was translated and reposted from INFORMADOR.MX
6 adults and a minor were linked after a confrontation with the National Guard on February 21.
The cell of hired killers arrested on February 21 in Tlaquepaque by members of the National Guard after an armed confrontation with the uniformed officers in the El Tapatío neighborhood was indicted.
The 16 adults and one minor were charged with violation of the Federal Law on Firearms and Explosives, in its modality of Carrying Firearms for the Exclusive Use of the Armed Forces and Criminal Association. On the day of the arrest, members of the National Guard patrolling the area received a report that several armed individuals were entering and leaving a building located on Brigada del Norte street, in the aforementioned neighborhood and municipality, which was emitting a strong putrid odor.
The officers went to the site, but were met with gunfire from inside the building, so they repelled the aggression and detained four of them. As a result of this confrontation, a woman died and 13 other people (including a minor) were arrested in another property located in the Revolucion neighborhood in Tlaquepaque. Uniformed officers seized four long guns, four magazines, 111 rounds of ammunition and four vests with the word DELTAS, the name of an elite group of hitmen related to high-level violent crimes, belonging to the CJNG, from the first four detainees.
Following the arrest of the first four suspects, the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) requested a search warrant for the aforementioned property, where members of the Federal Ministerial Police seized 36 handmade firearms, six handguns, eight long guns, 30 magazines and various useful cartridges, 21 wraps of cocaine, 48 wraps of marijuana, 70 wraps of crystal meth, eleven cell phones, 23 license plates, four scales, seven ballistic vests, six vehicles and three motorcycles.
They also located six bags with human remains, which were handed over to the Jalisco Institute of Forensic Sciences, for the corresponding reports. During the arrest of the other 13 suspects, the federal agents seized six long arms, one short weapon, seven magazines, three fake weapons, 143 cartridges of various calibers and one vehicle.
Subsequently, the FGR conducted a search of the second property, where authorities confiscated 39 bags with marijuana, 25 magazines, 41 cell phones, four firearms, a bag containing a crystalline substance, 12 vests, several vehicle plates, six motorcycles and two vehicles. Meanwhile, the Federal Prosecutor’s Office of the Attorney General’s Office in Jalisco obtained the indictment of the 16 adults by a District Judge Specializing in the Accusatory Criminal System.
Therefore, Jorge “E”, Julio “V”; Paulina “J” and Noe “A”, arrested in Colonia El Tapatío, and Jaziel “G”; Alfonso “R”; Tomás “L”; Cristian “M”; Francisco “C”; Brandon “B”; Diego “T”; Leobardo “P”; Jonathan “L”; Rosaura “P”; José “F” and Anthony “O”, arrested in the Revolución subdivision, will be remanded in custody for the duration of their trial at the Puente Grande penitentiary complex. The minor was placed at the disposal of a Specialized Judge for Minors and was also sentenced to trial.
The general strategic security coordinator of Jalisco, Ricardo Sánchez Beruben, stated that the State Prosecutor’s Office would investigate the relationship of this cell with the four multiple homicides that took place in Tlaquepaque during February, which left 16 dead, among them five minors.