Tamaulipas police commander arrested

Mexican authorities have announced the arrest of a high-ranking state police officer accused of working as a spy for organized crime

Pedro “El Polaris” Hernandez Quiroga, 39, of Ciudad Victoria, was arrested late Saturday night in Tampico, a press release from the Mexican Federal Police said.

The release said only that Hernandez was member of the police, but documents show that he is a group commander for the Tamaulipas State police in the city of Jimenez.

Also arrested were two men from Matamoros, Leonardo “El Leo” Mancha Capetillo, 37, and Carlos Abdiel Lucio Martinez, 20, according to the press release.

Authorities also arrested Jesus Guadalupe “El Ojitos” de la Cruz de Leon, 20, of Jimenez in Tamaulipas and Nelson Francisco Castillo Granados, 32, of Guatemala.

The men were turned over to SIEDO, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office Specializing in Organized Crime.

The arrest came after a federal police convoy doing routine patrol through Tampico noticed that a silver 2010 Volkswagen Bora was following them, the release stated.

Police stopped the vehicle, searched the car and found three grenades, three assault rifles, three handguns, two bulletproof vests, the press release said.

The statement said they also seized three computers that allegedly had been used for espionage and contained information on key people across Mexico. Other items seized included long-range video recording equipment, closed circuit recording cameras, six cell phones, seven communication radios, four external computer storage devices, and various credit cards.