Suspected killer of 75 arrested in Mexico

Jan 30, 2012, 18:49 GMT

Mexico City - The authorities of the north-eastern Mexican state of Nuevo Leon hold in custody a man who has confessed to 75 killings, the state's public prosecutor's office said Monday.

Enrique Aurelio Elizondo Flores, 35, known with the alias 'El Arabe' (The Arab), was arrested on January 20, with three accomplices, in the town of Salinas Victoria. Three other members of the criminal cell led by 'The Arab' remain at large.

Elizondo Flores, who allegedly belongs to the Los Zetas drug gang, confessed among others to killing random bus passengers, six police officers and even two little girls.

The cell, which operated in northern Nuevo Leon, confessed to taking part in many clashes with Los Zetas' rivals of the Gulf Cartel and with the authorities. They also admitted having carried out kidnappings and having buried or burned the bodies of their victims illegally.

'In March 2011 they kidnapped a bus coming in from Reynosa which was driving through the town of Cerralvo, and he took part in the killing of 35 people,' said Nuevo Leon Attorney General Adrian de la Garza.

'In January 2001 they kidnapped another bus with 50 people, also from reynosa, and he shot 15 people with an AR-15 rifle. We think there could be more than 100 murders,' De la Garza said.

According to the authorities, about 13,000 people were killed in Mexico between January and September 2011 in incidents linked to organized crime. Since December 2006, the officially-confirmed death toll for such incidents is estimated at more than 47,000.