Mexican police have reportedly arrested a 26-year-old suspect in the murder of B.C. ex-pat Ron Mackintosh last year.

The man was taken into custody during an early-morning raid on Wednesday, and is also suspected in a series of robberies carried out by an organized crime cell, according to local media.

Mackintosh’s body was found tied to a tree on Nov. 6 near Barra de Navidad, a retirement community on Mexico’s southwest coast.

The 64-year-old former Vancouver Island resident was last seen weeks earlier dropping off a friend in his black Jeep Patriot with his dog. Neither the vehicle nor the dog were found.

Mackintosh moved to Mexico in 2010 after retiring as an inspector with a Vancouver Island engineering firm.

He’d taken out Mexican citizenship and planned to live in the country permanently.