Class 1 Racer Busted at SF 250

[Seve]

Entered under fake name.
Said to have been pulled out of car and cuffed.
Cross-ref Class 1 DNS: #117?

TIJUANA, Mexico, March 15 (Reuters) - Mexico captured a high-ranking Tijuana drug cartel hitman on Saturday, the public security ministry said, the second big arrest to hit the organization in five days.

Saul Montes de Oca, known as "El Ciego" (the blind guy) and close to cartel bosses, was arrested as he was about to take part in a car race in the tourist resort of San Felipe, the Baja California state attorney general's office said.

Montes de Oca is suspected of being a top killer at the powerful cartel (WOW, wouldn't wanna nerf him ... ), also called as the Arellano Felix Organization and known for its gruesome torture and execution methods.

He also faces extradition to the United States where he is wanted on organized crime charges, the ministry said.

Police had been tracking him for five months and got a breakthrough this week when they dismantled a kidnapping ring whose leaders said they reported to him.

The capture was also helped by the arrest on Tuesday of another senior Tijuana operative, Gustavo Rivera Martinez, who is being extradited to the United States to face drug charges.

Montes de Oca worked for Rivera Martinez, handling drug cargo movements and abductions, the security ministry said.

The arrests were the latest in a series of victories for President Felipe Calderon's 15-month-old army crackdown on drug traffickers and the latest blow to the Tijuana gang, which has seen a string of its leaders jailed or killed in recent years.

The feared Arellano Felix family controls drug routes in the northwestern state of Baja California, including around the busy border crossing of Tijuana, where it fights for turf with the Sinaloa alliance that controls most of western Mexico.

Montes de Oca was involved in a 1997 assassination attempt on a renowned Tijuana journalist who exposed drug gang crimes.

Half a dozen raids on the Tijuana cartel this year have put around 30 mid-level operatives behind bars. A bust this month of one of its safe houses turned up a huge arsenal of weapons, including guns decorated with gold skulls.

One former Tijuana cartel boss was released from a U.S. jail this month and returned home, but with many of the rest of the clan of sibling leaders still in prison, analysts believe a sister is now in charge.

Calderon sent some 25,000 soldiers and federal police to drug hotspots on taking office in December 2006, and sent extra troops to Tijuana in January to curb a spike in violence.

Nationwide, drug violence killed more than 2,500 people last year and murders so far this year total more than 500. (Writing by Catherine Bremer; Editing by Doina Chiacu)
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Thanks Tony T.

[Minnow]

No wonder they were going after the McMillans class 1 car. These are the guys that were doing a lot of kidnappings in Northern Baja, and Oca was the Jefe. Were they transporting the 117 in Andy's trailer, or has that been found?

[Seve]

117: "Alex Almarez."

cartel.jpg

[Big Tickets]

Good riddens MF he is one of the reasons that BAJA has endured and created so much BS!!!
"AMF" Adios Muther F&^%$)&.

[cpoguy]

Appears to have been a very well organized take down by the State and Fed Agencies. I thought it strange when I pulled into the starting area during the car start, the amount of non traditional Mexican Soldiers doing "traffic Control". They looked to have been from the Special Forces units, from how they were dressed and the weapons they carried, yeah, those boys know how to shoot!!! Also, lots of "PEP" State boys out and about, wearing the black BDU's and the slung auto's.

And: That shiny, white and green MD type helo that was buzzing the start of the car race, with the 2 black bdu boys hanging on the skids, one on each side, with what looked like slung machine guns out both doors, though it looked like they were keeping them long guns just inside the cabin of the bird. The helo had PEP (Policia Estatal Preventiva), just below the rotors.

And the picture of the arrest, Probably uc fed boys, with probably a few more in the shadows, for back up, ya know.

[Minnow]

This article is related.

Kidnapping Ring Dismantled



TIJUANA – Baja California law enforcement officials say they have dismantled an important kidnapping ring linked to the Arellano Felix cartel that was behind last January's abduction of real estate agents active in selling coastal properties in Tijuana and Rosarito Beach.

Nine people were arrested following the rescue late Wednesday of a another kidnapping victim, a 24-year-old business owner and mother of three from San Quintin, an agricultural region south of the port of Ensenada. She was kidnapped Feb. 24 from her house, and her captors had demanded a ransom of $250,000.

Baja California Attorney General Rommel Moreño Manjarrez announced the arrests late Thursday at a news conference in Tijuana, and said the suspects were involved in kidnapping seven people for ransom; six were released, and one was killed. The kidnappers demanded ransoms ranging from $100,000 to $300,000, he said.

Originally focused on drug trafficking, the Arellano Felix cartel has branched out into other crimes, including kidnapping, immigrant smuggling and vehicle theft, Moreño said.

The suspects detained this week in Ensenada and Tijuana told investigators they reported to Saul Montes de Oca, a suspected member of the Arellano Felix cartel, Moreño said.

The group is suspected of kidnapping the two female real estate agents in January; both hold U.S. and Mexican citizenship, and one has a residence in Chula Vista, according to U.S. authorities. The women were rescued in Tijuana Jan. 30 by members of Baja California's anti-kidnapping squad.

Agents detained five suspects in that case, which allowed them to develop information leading to the rescue of the San Quintin woman, Moreño said.

Original article can be viewed here: http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/m...n14kidnap.html

[Seve]

Wonder how long it will be before a guard decides he wants that Nomex racing suit.

[capt. mike]

that guy just plain looks scary.
so he gets pulled off the street - then what? another up and coming understudy fills his place? i see no end to this drug war and the madness. its just like 20s and 30s gangsters and prohibition in the USA.