Tijuana Police Charged With Aiding Escape : Mexican Drug Suspect’s Jailbreak Leads to S.D.

U.S. authorities have been told by Mexican law enforcement officials that a suspected drug trafficker who escaped from a Tijuana jail fled to San Diego and may be arranging to fly from a U.S. airport to a safe haven in South America.

A federal agent familiar with the case said Thursday that Mexican law enforcement officials said that Jose Contreras Subias, a suspected drug trafficker, fled to San Diego after his prison escape Friday. Contreras’ escape reportedly was aided by three Tijuana municipal police officers who drove him across the border. The four were met at a San Diego hotel by a group of heavily armed men, the agent said U.S. authorities have been told.

The agent, who requested anonymity, said that U.S. agencies are investigating the possibility that Contreras may attempt to fly to South America from Phoenix, Las Vegas or Los Angeles. He is known to have friends among drug traffickers in Colombia and Chile, said the agent.

However, a week after Contreras’ escape, U.S. officials have not independently confirmed Contreras’ presence in the United States. But law enforcement agencies in the Southwest and along the international border have been asked to be on the lookout for Contreras, who is considered to be armed and dangerous, and traveling with confederates.

Contreras, 36, is said to be the top assistant to Mexican drug kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero. The two men were arrested in April near San Jose, Costa Rica.

U.S. authorities believe that Quintero was taken to a Mexico City prison, suspected in connection with the killings of U.S. Drug Enforcement Agent Enrique Camarena and Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar.

Contreras was brought to Tijuana to face federal drug charges. Contreras disappeared Friday, along with the three policemen, while he was being driven back to jail after a court appearance. American authorities met Wednesday and Thursday with Mexican law enforcement officials, who said the policemen drove Contreras across the border last Friday afternoon at San Ysidro in an unmarked car.

“They stopped off for a couple of hours at a San Ysidro motel and then drove to a hotel in San Diego, where they were met by four to eight heavily armed men. The policemen said the men were armed with automatic weapons. Then they took off in two cars, leaving the cops behind,” said the agent.

He declined to name the hotels because U.S. investigators are still questioning employees at both locations.

On Thursday, Mexican Federal Judicial Police arrested six people, including Tijuana jail warden Gaston Romo Barragan, and charged them with helping Contreras escape. Arrested along with Barragan were two of his aides, Raul Zapari Guevara and Jose Zamora. Also arrested were the three officers charged with driving Contreras to San Diego: Rogelio Gonzalez Montiel, Jose Maria Salvatierra Wilkins and Enrique Velazquez Cornejo.

Mexican officials told U.S. investigators that in the past the six men were paid as much as 200,000 pesos each by Contreras for allowing him to spend time in his Tijuana home. The U.S. agent said the policemen drove Contreras to his home near the Caliente Racetrack at least 19 times after court appearances, before returing him to jail.

“His jail accommodations weren’t bad, either. His cell more closely resembled a well-furnished apartment,” the agent said.

Tijuana newspapers reported that Contreras’ cell was actually a four-room apartment that included a telephone and a computer.