Puebla: "El Gato Felix" and 12 People Detained w 5 Tons of Explosives and Arms

Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: AnimalPolitico y Proceso

                           13 people with 5 tons of explosives and firearms arrested in Puebla

Authorities located a warehouse in the municipality of San Salvador Huixcolotla, Puebla, and 13 were arrested including "El Gato Felix" who works with "El Mamer". The detainees, according to the authorities, were dedicated to installing fake checkpoints to steal from motorists from the Puebla-Veracruz highway.

The Ministry of Public Safety reported on Monday about the arrest of 13 people and the securing of a cargo of around five tons of explosives, in addition to seven firearms of different calibers.

Elements of the National Guard participated in the operation, in coordination with elements of the National Defense Secretariat, the National Anti-kidnapping Coordination and the Office of the Kidnapping and High Impact Crimes of the General Prosecutor's Office of the state of Puebla.

Army elements arrested a subject known as Félix María Araya Arias, "El Gato Félix", and 11 of his  operators during an operation in the municipalities of Acatzingo and Huixcolotla, Puebla , to recover five tons of explosives stolen from a truck last Thursday.

It is presumed that "El Gato Félix" is the right hand of "El Mamer" , a criminal leader with whom he carried out massive assaults on motorists and organized false checkpoints on the adjacent roads between Puebla and Veracruz, for the theft of cargo trucks.

Last Saturday, together with the State and Federal Police, elements of the Army implemented an operation in the municipality of Huixcolotla, where they recovered the stolen explosives,  secured three vehicles and long weapons.

In that place nine men and two women were arrested, but the police actions continued on to the municipality of Acatzingo, where they located and arrested “El Gato Félix”, one of the most dangerous members of the band of “El Mamer”.

It should be remembered that last Thursday, October 24, an alert was issued in the states of the center of the country, since a truck carrying five tons and 150 kilograms of an highly explosive agent was stolen on the Puebla-Orizaba highway.

"In follow-up to the investigations derived from the theft of a truck loaded with explosive material, which occurred on October 24 in the state of Puebla, federal troops carried out intelligence work that allowed us to locate a warehouse", explained the Secretariat.

“In a coordinated operation, federal troops detained 13 people in the possession of seven firearms of different calibers, six magazines, about 950 useful cartridges, eight tactical vests, 11 jackets, four T-shirts, a shirt and two pants from different police corporations, eight cell phones, a ticket counting machine, a vehicle with theft report and two vans, ” he added.

It is unclear at this time what the haul of explosives was all about.