FBI OFFERS REWARD FOR TIPS IN SLAYING OF TIJUANA CHIEF

Agency Placed Ads In Spanish-language Newspapers In Region

The FBI is prepared to offer a reward for information that could help solve
the assassination of Tijuana's police chief, Alfredo de la Torre Marquez.

The FBI's request for information appeared between April 17 and April 21 in
advertisements in three newspapers -- Los Angeles-based La Opinion, and San
Diego-based El Latino and La Prensa. The ads also asked the public to
provide information about "related matters."

Jan Caldwell, a San Diego spokeswoman for the FBI, said she couldn't
comment on what other matters might be connected to de la Torre's slaying.

The advertisements didn't say how much the agency would pay for the tips.
Caldwell said any rewards would be based on the value of the information.

The FBI placed the ads in response to a request from the Baja California
state authorities who are investigating the slaying of de la Torre,
Caldwell said.

Several tips are already being investigated and shared with Mexican
authorities.

"Each phone call leads us a little bit closer," Caldwell said. "Our goal is
to assist the Mexican law enforcement in solving this horrendous crime."

All information will be kept confidential and no questions will be asked
regarding the callers' immigration status, she said.

The FBI asks anyone with information to call: (858) 514-5534.

Enrique Tellaeche, spokesman for the Baja California Attorney General's
Office, said that as far as he knows, their agency didn't ask the FBI to
offer the reward.

"We appreciate the help and hope that it leads to the detention of these
people, whether they be in the United States or Mexico," he said. "The
(Baja California) attorney general wants them to pay for the crimes that
they could have committed."

In March, Mexican authorities announced that seven men had been arrested
and had confessed to the assassination and 14 other killings. They also
theorized that the assassination had been orchestrated by drug traffickers.

But so far, they haven't been able to produce enough evidence to make that
link. A Baja California judge cited lack of evidence when she refused to
issue an arrest warrant for Vicente Zambada, who authorities suspect
arranged the Feb. 27 slaying on behalf of a Sinaloan drug cartel.

Zambada's father is Ismael Zambada Garcia, a reputed drug baron who Mexican
authorities say is competing with the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel.

The investigation has also been stymied because three additional suspects
accused of carrying out the chief's killing are still at large.

The FBI agreed to help search for two of the suspects: assistant Precinct
Commander Juan de Dios Montenegro and officer Praxedis Osuna Solis. But FBI
officials say they can't begin the hunt until Mexico produces the official
arrest warrants.

Those warrants have been issued, Mexican authorities said. But U.S.
officials said they still haven't been notified.

Soon after the arrests, Mexican soldiers and federal agents arrested Jesus
"Chuy" Labra who is said to be the uncle and top adviser to the Arellanos.

On March 15, Labra's attorney, Gustavo Galvez Reyes, was found dead in
Mexico City. Authorities said he was beaten before he was suffocated.

Then in April, three Mexican anti-drug agents were found slain near their
battered car at the bottom of a ravine between Tecate and Mexicali. The
agents, who were investigating Labra, had been meeting regularly with
federal officials in San Diego.