Authorities in Tijuana Arrest 7th Suspect in Chief’s Death

Mexican authorities have arrested a seventh suspect in the killing of Tijuana Municipal Police Chief Alfredo de la Torre Marquez and continued to hold more than a dozen others for questioning, authorities said Thursday.

Investigators also said they may ask the FBI for help in searching for two suspects who may have fled to the United States. FBI officials said that no such request has been forwarded yet but that the agency is prepared to assist.

Authorities said the seven defendants also may be linked to 14 other murders in Baja California over the past eight months, but they have released few details.

Baja California Atty. Gen. Juan Manuel Salazar Pimentel on Wednesday announced the arrest of six people, including a former police officer, in the slaying of De la Torre, who was gunned down Feb. 27. Those six and the defendant arrested Wednesday are allegedly linked to a drug kingpin from the state of Sinaloa.

Marquez was the second Tijuana chief killed in six years. In 1994, Chief Federico Benitez Lopez was gunned down along the same highway where De la Torre was killed.

Three people were arrested in that case, including a former top federal police official. Prosecutors at the time said the ex-official was linked to drug traffickers and that other suspects were being hunted.

But no one was ever brought to trial in the case, and the Benitez murder remains unsolved.

As the seven defendants in the De la Torre assassination were taken from police headquarters to jail under heavy security, Baja California Gov. Alejandro Gonzalez Alcocer vowed to continue the investigation “to its ultimate consequences.”

The seventh suspect was identified as Omar Moreno, 20, a delivery man for a lead factory and cousin of one of the other six. Authorities said the seven were paid thousands of dollars to act as a “hit squad” for a drug cartel and car-theft ring.