Mexican authorities have arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed “El Chapito” for the murder of eight people linked to drug trafficking near Mexico City, the federal department of public safety announced yesterday. The boy, who allegedly opened fire from a motorcycle at a family in the suburb of Chimalhuacan on January 22, was arrested together with an adult.
The attack during a birthday party
Seven other alleged gang members were arrested on drug trafficking charges. The victims were having a birthday party at their home at the time of the attack, which also injured seven people, including two children. The boy’s name was not disclosed, but his nickname – “El Chapito”, “Little Chapo” – seems to be a reference to the former drug kingpin, currently in prison in the US, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman.
A long trail of blood
The motive for the killings has not been made public, but Mexican drug gangs often engage in kidnapping and contract killings. Underage murders are nothing new in Mexico, the newspaper comments. In 2010, the military arrested a 14-year-old boy nicknamed ‘El Ponchis’, who said he was kidnapped when he was 11 and forced to work for the South Pacific Cartel, an offshoot of the Beltran Leyva gang. The teenager said he participated in the beheadings of at least four people. After his arrest, “El Ponchis”—whom authorities identified only by his first name, Edgar—told reporters that he was drugged and forced to commit crimes under threat.
Source-tg24.sky.it