Federal prosecutors in Mexico have arrested an alleged leader of a drug cartel in the murder of nine members of a Mormon community last November, BBC News reported on Tuesday.
Three women and six children, all dual U.S.-Mexican citizens, were driving through Mexico’s Sonoran Desert in the north when they were killed in an ambush.
Mexican security officials said the man, identified as Roberto González Montes, was a former police officer who is suspected of being a leader of the La Línea drug cartel.
The victims were part of the LeBarón family, a community which broke away from the mainstream Mormon Church and settled in Mexico almost a century ago.
It is unclear why the families were attacked in the ambush, but one theory is that they were mistaken by La Línea for members of a rival cartel.
Two other men were also captured along with Montes and were transferred to Mexico City.
The New York Post reported that it was not immediately clear what role the three arrested suspects are accused of playing in the murders of the Mormons, who were part of a convoy of 17 ambushed while driving to a wedding in the border state of Sonora.
More than a dozen alleged cartel members have been arrested in connection with the incident.
Brian Freeman ✉
Brian Freeman, a Newsmax writer based in Israel, has more than three decades writing and editing about culture and politics for newspapers, online and television.
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