TIJUANA State authorities arrested Wednesday a man accused of leading a kidnapping group believed to have abducted at least six people in the last three years.
The suspect is Óscar Emilio Núñez López, 36, from Sinaloa, whom the State Attorney General's Office said is the leader of a criminal cell that kidnapped people on orders of the drug trafficker Armando Villarreal Heredia.
Villarreal, a San Diego native, was detained on July 9 in Hermosillo, Sonora.
Federal authorities identified Villareal as one of the lieutenants of Fernando Sánchez Arellano, known as "The Engineer," the current leader of the Tijuana-based Arellano Félix cartel.
Villareal allegedly coordinated the transportation of illegal drugs from Mexico to the United States.
Baja California's prosecutor for organized crime, Abel Galván, said the detention of Núñez López was made possible when he was linked to a kidnapping on Feb. 15 outside a beauty shop in the El Refugio neighborhood in Tijuana's east side.
In that crime, a man, 34, and a woman, 30, where kidnapped by an armed group of men.
Galván explained that the state's anti-kidnapping unit was able to free the two victims two days later and arrested three men.
The men were identified as two brothers, Edgar Uriel and Carlos Alberto Peñuelas Núñez, and Alberto Núñez López, who told authorities that the leader of their group was the brother of the latter, Óscar Emilio Núñez López.
Based on an investigation, the State Attorney General's Office obtained an arrest order against Núñez López accusing him of kidnapping and organized crime, Galván said.
The order was carried out Wednesday by the anti-kidnapping unit in the Lomas del Refugio neighborhood, also in the city's east side.
According to the prosecutor, the arrested suspected confessed to being the head of a criminal band that had participated in at least six kidnappings on orders of Villarreal Heredia.
When they arrested him, authorities seized two 7.62 X 39 caliber machine guns, with 44 live rounds, and a G3 machine gun with 106 live rounds.
Núñez López is being detained at the La Mesa State Penitentiary in Tijuana, where he awaits prosecution.
Omar.millan@sandiegored.com
