Narcopolicías Of The CAF

"HEARST" for Borderland Beat 

Zeta Tijuana Weekly magazine has released a new article covering a specific group of policemen working for the Cártel Arellano Félix (CAF), sometimes called the Arellano Félix Organization (AFO) or the Cártel de Tijuana. 

State and federal police cells in Baja California have been found to be carrying out kidnappings and drug robberies in conjunction with a criminal operator linked to the CAF, according to investigations by the State Coordination Security Table. 

These kidnappings are carried out in official or cloned patrol cars. Some victims of these kidnappings are held in FGE offices. These cops work on the orders of the liaison Carlos Omar Barba Preciado, alias “El Charly” or “El Romel”, who is a criminal associated with the CAF. 

Baja California authorities have been investigating El Charly since 2018, but have been unable to capture him. El Charly is believed to command a large operation as three different group of men working under him have been known to commit three separate crimes on the same day. 

Zeta Tijuana writes that investigators working for the Coordination Security Table recently received information that El Charly reports to David López Jiménez, alias "El Cabo 20," "El Lobo" and/or "Aquel Hombre”, who works under the CAF faction led by El Flaquito, which is currently working under Sinaloa Cartel’s Los Chapitos. 

Some of the cells working under El Charly are believed to be made up entirely of corrupt police officers, both municipal, state and even federal law enforcement agents. Zeta Tijuana writes that a signature aspect of these El Charly organized kidnappings is the use of either official police patrol cars or cloned patrol cars during the initial abduction of the victim.

In general, the officers and El Charly try to ensure that the victims themselves or a close family member of the victim have some illicit activity to hide in order to avoid the kidnapping operation from being exposed. However, they have also been known to kidnap people with no criminal record and have a predilection for kidnapping those involved in drug transportation. 

The Security Coordination Table has found that in some instances, officers have taken the “detainees” or rather the kidnapping victims to the actual offices of the State Attorney General's Office (FGE) while they are making demands of ransom. 

As an example of this, they point to some recent cases from July 2021. A State Security and Investigation Guard (GESI) officer named Javier Montecillos and a State Investigation Agency (AEI) officer named Orlando Henkel were alleged to have been involved in at least four separate kidnapping incidents during the month of July in which they used an official patrol car and equipment of the FGE. 

On July 24, 2021, an unidentified man parked in front of an Oxxo gas station in a black sedan vehicle. The man was wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, black sneakers and a red baseball cap. He got out of his vehicle and waited inside the Oxxo. He was seen on security footage to be sending text messages on his phone during this time. 

At approximately 6:00 pm, an unidentified woman wearing a black shirt, blue jeans, and a red mask arrived outside of the Oxxo. She was carrying a brown handbag as well as a backpack. The unidentified man and woman spoke outside of the Oxxo, having evidently pre-arranged the meeting. The woman gave the man the backpack and in exchange the man handed over a number of bills, placing the backpack he just received inside his vehicle. 

Javier Montecillos, seen on right, arresting unidentified man.

The man and the woman then turned to leave to go their own respective ways when off-duty GESI agent Javier Montecillos and off-duty AEI agent Orlando Henkel swooped in, detaining both the unidentified man and the unidentified woman who had just participated in the presumed sale. 

GESI agent Montecillos, carrying a radio, instructed the man to put his hands behind his back and handcuffed him. Meanwhile, the woman tried  protesting against being arrested by AEI agent Henkel, but after a short back and forth with Henkel she submitted to the arrest and was handcuffed as well. Both were placed in a registered patrol car. Officer Mentecillos and Agent Henkel drove the two away, without checking inside the unidentified man’s car which contained the backpack of goods. 

Orlando Henkel, seen on left, arresting unidentified woman.

The coordinated forces investigating on behalf of the Security Table say this July 24, 2021 incident is just one of four other similar operations. In each case, money was demanded as ransom payment for the freedom of the detainees. The amount demanded ranged from 10,000 pesos (roughly $500 USD) to 20,000 pesos (roughly $1000 USD).

One of the corrupt justice officials believed to have worked for El Charly was Sirak Anwar Ramírez Ferrer. Sirak Anwar Ramírez Ferrer was a trial lawyer who graduated from law school in 2015. During his time in law school, he worked for three years in the social services department of the Attorney General’s Office (PGR). After his graduation, Ramírez Ferrer began working as an assistant prosecutor within the State Attorney General’s Office (PGJE), starting his new position in August 2016 and working for only three months, leaving his position in March 2017. 

On May 18, 2018, a 67-year-old man, who was the owner of a local printing company was abducted. The male victim, identified in court records by the initials VJZ, was intercepted by subjects who approached him from two white pickup trucks while he was driving in the Valle Sur neighborhood of Tijuana. 

VJZ's vehicle which was left abandoned following his kidnapping.

One of the pick up trucks was a Dodge Ram and the other a Ford F150. Both vehicles had been equipped with flashing lights meant to imitate police vehicles. The armed men informed the victim that he was the subject of an investigation and then proceeded to force him to get into one of their vehicles, under the guise of taking him to a police facility for interrogation. VJZ was not taken to a police station however, but rather to a cartel safe house which was #7704 Progreso Street, in the Zermeño neighborhood of Tijuana. 

One of the guns used to subdue VJZ later found inside kidnappers' vehicle.

VJZ’s captors interrogated him for hours, reportedly asking him "what was his password to launder money". When the victim said he did not know what they were referring to, he was repeatedly beaten. His kidnappers then contacted his relatives, demanding 500,000 pesos (roughly $24,580 USD) for his safe return. They reportedly called from different phone numbers each time they made contact with his relatives and provided proof of life evidence, suggesting a degree of criminal sophistication. 

The Ministerial Police began investigating the active kidnapping of VJZ. On May 22, 2018, the kidnappers made contact with the relation, utilizing a new phone number per usual, but this time Ministerial Police officers were able to identify that the number belonged to Sirak Anwar Ramírez Ferrer, the aforementioned trial lawyer who used to work at the PGR and PGJE.

The five kidnappers, including former PGR and PGJE Sirak Anwar. All reported to El Charly.

The Ministerial police put Ramírez Ferrer’s house, located in the Cortés neighborhood of Tijuana, under surveillance. At around noon, Ramírez Ferrer was spotted by investigators leaving his home and they tailed his vehicle as he drove to the parking lot of a local supermarket. 

In the parking lot, he was seen meeting up with José Adrián Sánchez Nieblas and Zozy (written as "Sozy" in some stories) Abad Hernández Escalante and then all three men got into another vehicle and drove to the safehouse where VJZ was being held captive. The three men then called and continued negotiating with the relatives of VJZ, finally agreeing to a total ransom amount of 1,000,000 pesos (roughly $49,160 USD). They told the relatives that they would be leaving a bank card at a public phone booth and that that ransom should be deposited onto the bank card. 

Photo from a social media account showing two of the kidnappers. 

The three men then were seen leaving the safehouse, returning to the supermarket parking lot and changing vehicles again, then driving over to the public phone booth mentioned in the call and placing a bank card for the relatives of VJZ to later retrieve. The men then drove back to the supermarket and the Ministerial Agents swooped in, arrested all three men. 

José Adrián Sánchez Nieblas told the ministerial police that he did not want any trouble and quickly admitted to the officers where the safehouse was located. A group of agents raided the safehouse and successfully rescued VJZ, who was being held captive, both blindfolded and shackled, by Leonel Guadalupe Sanchez Nieblas and a minor identified as Edwin Enrique, accomplices of the group. 

One of the two vehicles found on the property.

The two white pickup trucks designed to imitate law enforcement vehicles were found parked at the safehouse along with two shirts with the letters "PGJE" printed on them. 

Other vehicle found on the same property as the safehouse. 

They were also allegedly involved in the kidnappings of the young owner of a taco business in Playas de Tijuana, which was committed earlier that same year, in March 2018. Both the kidnapping of VJZ and the owner of the taco business are believed to have been organized by El Charly on behalf of the CAF.

On August 11, 2021, the FGE raided a safe house located on Lobato Street in the Los Lobos neighborhood of Tijuana. The raid was targeting the location where kidnapping victim José "N", 49 year old truck driver who is originally from Tlaxcala, was believed to be held captive. According to El Imparcial, José was “arrested” by men dressed as police officers who approached him in cars with strobe lights attached.

Photo from police file showing how Jose was kept captive in the safehouse.

Seven kidnappers were found to be inside the home and the victim José "N" was found to be alive but badly injured. He was found lying on the floor blindfolded and bound. Reportedly the kidnappers had demanded a ransom that his family could not pay so they began beating him with a hammer dozens of times on the back, demanding he come up with a way to pay them money.

The safehouse in Los Lobos where José "N" was held.

The following were arrested in connection with the kidnapping: Eloy Adrián Valenzuela, 35; Julio César Montes Lugo, 32; Jorge Castillo Valenzuela, 38; Eleazar Valenzuela Moreno, 36; Sihomara Cecilia Soto Escárrega, 30; and the minor Dulce del Carmen, 16, all from Guasave, Sinaloa. Additionally Juan Carlos Miramontes Hernández, 27, from Mexico City.

Two radios with police frequencies, several weapons, a cloned patrol car, two sedan vehicles and an ID for a company called “Integral Security and Custody Services”, located in Tecate, Baja California. Eloy and his accomplices were sentenced to stand trial on August 18, 2021. His next hearing will be on February 18, 2022. 

Zeta Tijuana writes that all seven are believed to have been working under El Charly. Previously, on March 17, 2021, four other kidnappers were arrested named Gabriel Veliz, Antonio Ríos, Enrique Puente and José Montes. They were believed to have been a part of this same cell of kidnappers. They were presented for possession of a cloned patrol car, an assault rifle and three small arms.

El Charly & July 2021 Source: Zeta Tijuana

March 2018 Sources:  Zeta Tijuana Article 1, Article 2, Sintesis Tv, ReporterosCom, Debate Article 1, Article 2, Hiptex, AFN Tijuana, Telemundo, Ensenada, El Sol de Tijuana, Gente de la Tia Juana

August 2021 Sources: El Imparcial, Reporte Naranja, Zeta Tijuana, Luz Noticias, LinkSinaloa, Culichi News