BUSTED: Caballeros Templarios Narco Laboratory Tied to Assassinations of Candidates and Soldiers

Translated by Yaqui for Borderland Beat from: Proceso

By: Ezequiel Flores Contreras  May18, 2018
Extra Material from: El Sur

Chilpancingo, Gro. Elements of the Army and the Attorney General of the Republic, (PGR) dismantled a clandestine narco laboratory in the town of San José,  Municipaly of Zirándaro , allegedly owned by José Pineda Gonzalez, "El JP",  leader of the Knights Templar, ie Caballeros Templarios, in the Tierra Caliente region in this entity and his brother Francisco Maldonado, "El Chico", who lives on the Michoacan side of the state borderline. They are now considered regional Jefes aligned with CJNG and practice extorsions, kidknapping and drug trafficking; originally coming from of La Familia Michoacana.

The Governor of Guerrero, Hector Astudillo Flores, says these are the same group that assassinated PRI candidate Abel Montufar Flores, the PRD candidate Ambrosio Soto, and responsible for the attacks on the local Coca Cola Plant in Altimira, which has led to its subsequent shutdown and dis-employment of its workers. ( see our recent/previous posts on Gro Coca Cola Plant shutdowns).

The area covers more than ​​two hectares, more than 100 200-liter drums were seized, with chemical precursors such as toluene, ammonium hydroxide, cyanide and acetone, used for the manufacture of methamphetamines.

                                    Important Strategic Location of Puerto Lazaro Cardenas

According to official reports, this synthetic drug is exported to the United States from the port of Lázaro Cárdenas, Michoacán, through a criminal networks operating in the regions of Tierra Caliente and Costa Grande, and involving authorities of the three levels of Government and the Army with the Narcos, of which the federal government has been cooking for seven years.

The operation involving soldiers of the 34th Infantry battalion based in Ciudad Altamirano, as well as a special group of the Criminal Investigation Agency (AIC) of the PGR, was held this morning in the area adjacent to the state of Michoacán, and its purpose was to "dismantle the structure" of the criminal group led by José Pineda or Rodolfo Maldonado Bustos, according to the reports.

The gigantic Pacific Port Facilities of Puerto Lazaro Cardenas and mega shipping plaza for DTO's 

The action was taken after the government of Hector Astudillo Flores publicly accused Pineda of being responsible for the execution of the candidate for local PRI deputy in the Tierra Caliente region, Abel Montufar Mendoza, as well as the crime of three soldiers who  guarded  Rancho El Pozo, owned by the Montufar family in Coyuca de Catalán. (See Otis' Post from May 9)

Soldiers Pedro Chavez Gonzalez, originally from Veracruz, Patricio Hernández García from San Luis Potosí and Jaime Bernal Jiménez from Veracruz, died in the attack. Three more were injured and one was unharmed and he was the one who rendered the statement that is in the file. 

The attack on the military began at approximately 9 o'clock at night, and according to witnesses around 9:20 another group of soldiers who had fallen behind also arrived at the El Pozo Ranch and managed to hear the shots, which accelerated the march and caught a glimpse of the sicarios running in different directions towards the mountain to escape.

One of the soldiers who testified said he saw between 25 and 30 men dispersed towards the mountain. One of the laggards was "Lucio". The soldier who testified said that his superior ordered him and another of his companions to go for him when they saw that he entrenched himself in the undergrowth and among some trees.

From there they heard that "Lucio N" warned them: "do not approach those bastards because either I fuck them or  they kill me". The military surrounded the area and remained until 6 am the next morning (May 9) when he shouted again: "I surrender, I will declare everything but do not shoot, they will  kill me".

Although Lucio was detained since the morning of May 9, spokesman Roberto Álvarez reported his detention on May 13.

That day, the state government released a photograph of the detainee showing a very young man wearing huaraches with a set of four AK-47 weapon chargers and the AK -47, ie, a Cuerno de Chivo.

In the bulletin he did not inform the day, the time or place where Lucio was arrested.

The judge of Control and Prosecution, Edgardo Mendoza resolved in the hearing of connection to yesterday's process that with the elements provided by the investigating authority, "the probable criminal responsibility of "Lucio" is evidenced" and that there are sufficient elements to link it to the process. He added that the defense of the accused did not present any means of proof to prove his innocence.

At the beginning of the trial, "Lucio N's" the public defender , Jesús Pérez González, said that "the Public Ministry's accusations against "Lucio" are not sufficient or consistent," and asked the judge to take into account the presumption of his innocence, because " it is not proven "that he deprived the three soldiers of their lives.

According to the judge, in addition to the testimony of the witnesses who identified "Lucio N" among the members of the armed group that went to the ranch and attacked the military, there are results of  a test of sodium rhodizonate as a means of proof, which ruled that the detainee had residues of lead and barium in the hands,  and he also said that the characteristics of the injuries received by the dead soldiers coincide with those produced by the weapon that "Lucio N" was carrying when he was arrested.

He was transferred from Tierra Caliente to Chilpancingo to be tried there, because in an office of the undersecretary of the Penitentiary System, Miguel Ángel Orihuela Hernández and another of the Ministerial Police 00683/2018 stated that "there were no conditions for him to remain in Coyuca de Catalan or Arcelia penitenteries because they belong to the criminal group Los Caballeros Templarios".