Mexico Under Siege

MEXICO ARMY NABS VATS-OF-LYE SUSPECT

The Man Arrested in Baja California Is Said to Have Dissolved Hundreds
of Bodies As Part of Tijuana's Drug Turf War.

A suspected hit man who allegedly dumped more than 300 bodies in vats
of lye at the behest of a top Tijuana crime boss has been arrested
near Ensenada, according to the Mexican military.

Alleged crime boss Teodoro Garcia Simental, nicknamed El Teo, narrowly
escaped after soldiers on Thursday raided an upscale resort outside
the Baja California port city 70 miles south of San Diego, according
to one Mexican news report.

The military said Santiago Meza Lopez, a 45-year-old from the state of
Sinaloa, was arrested after allegedly trying to flee from soldiers and
federal agents on the Ensenada- Tijuana coastal highway. Soldiers also
arrested Garcia's cook and seized four automatic weapons and two grenades.

Military authorities said Meza admitted being Garcia's body disposal
expert, nicknamed "El Pozolero del Teo" -- roughly translated: Teo's
soup maker.

Garcia, said to be in his mid-30s, is believed to be battling the
Arellano Felix drug cartel for control of the Tijuana area in a turf
war that has claimed more than 500 lives since late September. Many of
the disintegrated remains left in barrels on busy streets have been
attributed to El Teo, and have included messages addressed to reputed
rivals threatening to make their henchmen into pozole, a Mexican soup.

In an interview last week, Tijuana's top military commander, Gen.
Alfonso Duarte Mugica, said Garcia's capture was one of his top goals.
The military's efforts have been stymied by Garcia's network of police
informants, who keep track of the military's movements.

"It's been difficult," Duarte said. "But it's not impossible. It's
just a matter of time and better intelligence."