MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) — A policeman kidnapped by gunmen who killed his boss has been released but bore a message from his abductors, who said they were «Zetas» — a feared gang of border hit men — and threatened to kill more cops.
In an interview with local media from his hospital bed, police bodyguard Pedro Villeda Aguilar said the assailants were the same men who shot to death his boss, Julio Carlos Soto, on a street in Acapulco on Tuesday.
«A man there identified himself as Tony Tormenta, and he said he was in charge of the Zetas, and that they had arrived Tuesday in Acapulco with 120 men,» Villeda said.
The Zetas are a feared gang of hit men founded and led by deserters from an elite Mexican Army unit. The gang works for the Gulf cartel, mainly in the border state of Tamaulipas.
The Zetas, whose name comes from a police code word for «commanders,» have been implicated in dozens of killings in northern Mexico in recent years.
However, police now say that other, lesser gangs have started imitating the Zetas and claiming falsely to be members of the gang, to take advantage of the fear their reputation instills.
The assailants held Villeda Aguilar at a house for three days, beat him and then released him Friday, apparently to carry a message to Acapulco police saying the assailants would kill cops who they claimed had taken part of $500,000 in apparent drug money.
It was not clear whether the money was allegedly a bribe, or whether it had been seized.
The Tuesday killing shocked Acapulco, 180 miles (290 kilometers) southwest of Mexico City.
