Alleged hitman for drug cartel detained in connection with mass kidnap and murder of migrants

This article is more than 9 years old

This article is more than 9 years old

Mexican soldiers have detained an alleged hitman who is suspected of kidnapping bus passengers, killing them and burying them in mass graves.

Abraham Barrios Caporal, 26, was captured in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz and had admitted working for the Zetas drug cartel, Mexico's defence department said on Thursday. He was suspected of taking part in the killings of bus passengers and their burial at a ranch in San Fernando in the northern state of Tamaulipas.

Barrios Caporal was arrested in Coatzacoalcos on Tuesday along with three other members of his cell, an army spokesman, Colonel Ricardo Trevilla, said.

Authorities in Tamaulipas began uncovering bodies in mass graves early in April after reports that passengers were being pulled off buses at gunpoint.

By early June, 193 bodies had been found in 26 graves. Officials say most were Mexican migrants heading to the US who were kidnapped from buses and killed by the Zetas.

Barrios Caporal told authorities that some of the passengers were kidnapped because they were suspected of being members of the rival Gulf cartel.

Seventy-two Central and South American migrants were killed in San Fernando by the Zetas last August. Barrios Caporal was suspected of involvement in those killings, the department said.

Mexico's brutal drug war has claimed more than 35,000 lives since President Felipe Calderón deployed thousands of federal security forces four years ago to fight traffickers. The offensive led to a splintering of the country's cartels and increased gang fighting over territory. Mass graves have become an increasingly common discovery.

On Thursday, gunmen opened fire during a football game in Acapulco, killing two people and wounding at least two children who were watching the match. The victims were city police officers who were playing in a match against Guerrero state government employees.

Factions of the Beltran Leyva cartel have been fighting for control of Acapulco since the December 2009 killing of the cartel boss, Arturo Beltran Leyva.