El Dandy arrested

Translated by Otis B Fly-Wheel for Borderland Beat from a Proceso article

[ Subject Matter: El Dandy, Tamaulipas
Recommendation: No prior subject matter knowledge required]

Pedro Odiel Villegas Coronado

Elements of the Group for Coordination in Tamaulipas, detained one Pedro Odiel Villegas Coronado, El Dandy, allegedly implicated in the crimes of kidnapping, extortion, and drugs and arms trafficking.

The alleged regional boss of a group of criminals that operate in Tamaulipas, and one of the new objectives of the strategy of State, Federal and Government Security, put into practise this past 13th of May, was apprehended yesterday in Ciudad Victoria together with his bodyguard, Erick Fabian Saucedo Arguelles.

According to the GCT, Villegas Coronado also is accused of diverse violations and homicides in Xicotencatl, El Mante, Aldama, Gonzalez and other towns of the central region and the south of this State.

The possible capture of the criminal was achieved thanks to a special operation carried out by personnel from Sedena, with assistance from Federal Commanders of the central and south zones, two of the four areas of strategy for security.



The two detained were transferred to Mexico City and put at the disposition of SEIDO and the PGR.

The GCT detailed that in past 7 days they have detained 14 members of a band of kidnappers that operate in Matamoros, Ciudad Victoria and Tampico.

Also the detention of these criminals has led to the clearing up of six cases of kidnapping, but they remain under investigation because they are alleged to have participated directly in other crimes of this nature.

This past April, the National Commission for Security spokesman, Alejandro Rubido, assured that of the 15 criminals identified as objectives by the PGR, at this time, 14 have been neutralized and the Federal Forces, have changed the reorganization of the drugs cartels in this region.

Its now been a year since the Strategy for State Security initiated a new phase in Tamaulipas, they established 15 priority objectives from the two groups of criminals that operate in this area, of these 15, 14 have been neutralized, 13 detained and one killed.

According to the Federal Functionary, these actions led to calls for the groups to unite, "that have failed, and it has failed because the effective performance of the authorities, to quickly arrest of kill the replacements brought in to replace those arrested", he said in a radio interview.

Rubido said "there have been two criminal groups that formed at the fracture of a criminal organization in Tamaulipas, Los Ciclones and Los Metros".

He added that "the National Plan for all criminal organizations has been combative".

"In the administration of President Enrique Pena Nieto, there has not been a criminal structure, that have not felt a blow by Governmental action. Simply to cite some names, in the last 13 to 15 months they have detained, El Chapo Guzman, Hector Beltran Leyva, Vincente Carrillo Fuentes, Omar Trevino Morales, Servando Gomez and Victor Aguirre in progress, the operation in Jalisco".

The spokesman of the CNS signalled that since the start of the administration of Pena Nieto, the cabinet for security established a list of 122 primary objectives of which 93 have been neutralized.

Original article in Spanish at Proceso