Triple blow to Los Teo's kidnapping ring

The District Attorney for the state of Baja California has received confessions from members of a gang known as Los Teos, who were captured after information from a kidnapped victim led to their arrest. The men worked in cells managed by Hector Guadardo Hernandez, El Guicho and Juan Miguel Valles Beltran, El Boxer and they have been implicated in several homicides of police officers since 2009. Investigators are waiting on ballistics reports to see which executions the detainees participated in.

Authorities say a series of arrests deal a triple blow to the cells of El Guicho. One of the men was a known kidnapper, the other two were sicarios for the group. All were captured during a three day investigation which also led to the release of two kidnapping victims being held by the Los Teos gang.

The downfall of the cell began the evening of Monday September 21rst, when state police came across a young man nervous and shivering in his underwear, wandering through the streets of colonia Villas de Baja California de Tijuana. The youth informed the officers that he and his uncle had been the victims of a kidnapping by a group of five armed men who were traveling in a Honda CRV.

He related to patrolmen that the two men had been abducted at gunpoint and taken to an office in building in the same colonia. Officers then called for backup to the secure location of the suspects.

They were met by Erick Adrian Lamas Tello, 18 years old who was in possession of an Uzi 9mm sub machine gun and was standing guard over the youths' uncle, who was laying on the floor, his hands and feet had been crudely tied with an electrical cord. At the scene officers secured another 9mm pistol and several clips of ammunition. Acting on information from Lamas, state police raided a nearby safehouse that seemed to turn up nothing until the morning of the 22^nd.

This time in colonia Sanchez Taboada de Tijuana, at the intersection of Gemini and Virgo, police patrolling the area followed a vehicle that was speeding excessively without regard for officer's presence. When officers stopped the grey Volkswagen Passat they found Alejandro Moreno Tinajero, age 27 and Jose Cristobal Perez, age 35 in possession of two fully loaded handguns; a .40 caliber Glock and a Smith and Wesson 9mm.

The pair confessed that the handguns belonged to Rodolfo Gomez, 'El Pienetas' or 'El Rodolf' age 45, who had sent them to kill a man whose name they didn't know.

Jose Cristobal Perez was more detailed in his confession and revealed that he lived in Guadalajara and belonged to the Mileno Cartel, his main duties consisted of killing and kidnapping rivals at the order of Felipe Acosta, alias El Pecas who in turn received his orders from El Choco, El Pelon who in turn took orders from M or Mecho, the presumed leader of the organization.

He also said he had only been in Tijuana a few days when most of the members of his cell were detained during a military operation in Jalisco. He was lucky enough to escape that incident and had since found “work” with Rodolfo Gomez. When Perez lead them to the safehouse he had been staying at, the investigators realized this was the same domicile they had raided and rescued the young man and his uncle the previous night.

Edgar Sabino Aburto Lince and Antonio Flores Zapata at their presentation.

The third blow was dealt to the group on Tuesday the 23^rd on the boulevard of Benito Juarez de playas de Rosarito, when police saw two men acting suspiciously and trying to duck behind cars when they say the patrolmen. Upon searching the two suspects, officers found a pair of loaded handguns on Edgar Sabino Aburto Lince, age 24 and luis Antonio Flores Zapata, age 21. The latter confessed to the murder of a man in colonia Constitucion a week earlier. Both admitted to being members of an organized crime ring led by Juan Miguel Valles Beltran, El Boxer who was running a sub-set of the larger gang known as Los Teos under the guidance of El Guicho.

Lince and Zapata were operating in various cells in Tijuana for Los Teos and are believed to be responsible for the murder of several civilians and police officers in relation to the sale of drugs, including an attack on municipal officers on October 27^th 2009 and the murder of Rogelio Sanchez Jimenz, functionary of the Finance Secretary for the State government, whose body was found hanging from a bridge in Tijuana on the 9^th of October the same year.

A week before the incident on the 21rst, Erick Adrian Llama Tello had been detained with several small caliber weapons. On that occasion police took the weapons as evidence and submitted them for ballistic analysis to see if they had been used in previous murders. The problem was nobody processed the guns or the report, then a week later Llamas turns up along with five others as suspects in a kidnapping case using firearms that may or may not have already been taken in as evidence.

To date, the authorities of the state are still awaiting the ballistics report from the State Prosecutors office to determine which of the men arrested participated in murders El Guicho's men have been implicated in.

Sources: BDT, AFN