Mexican military arrests 11 Zetas for firefights near Matamoros

Mexican authorities announced the arrest of 11 supposed Zetas hitmen who allegedly had engaged the military last week. Also announced was the seizure of several weapons, found with the suspects at a hotel.

The arrest took place Sunday morning at an undisclosed hotel in the city of San Fernando, approximately 86 miles south of Brownsville, according to a press release from the Mexican navy.

According to the release, once in custody, the suspects confessed to having fired upon Mexican marines on Wednesday night and Thursday morning at a coastal area near Matamoros. During those two firefights, two marines were injured and transferred to a Matamoros hospital. The press release said that an unknown number of Zetas were killed, but their bodies were not recovered.

Those arrested include Jose Garcia Ramirez, Jesus Irreal Perez Mendoza, Luis Fabian Ocanaz Duran, Mario Alberto Ortega Toledo, Carlos Arturo Derrellesa Barraza, Jesus Alberto Felix Felix, Juan Carlos Sauceda Castro, Jorge Luis Castellano Castro, Oliver Chavez Alvarado, Marco Antonio Alaniz de La Cruz and Cleofas Goyta, who allegedly acted as their money man.

Also arrested was Hector Eduardo Guerra Nunez, a hotel employee who allegedly had stashed the weapons.

According to the Mexican navy, the arrest took place when they were patrolling the area around San Fernando and came across Garcia Ramirez, who was acting as a lookout and tried to warn the others about the military convoy.

After arresting and questioning Garcia Ramirez, the marines learned about the others hiding out in the hotel and moved in to arrest them, according to the press release.

The marines arrived to find them off guard and arrested them without major incident, in the process seizing six assault rifles, 400 ammunition rounds of various calibers and 13 ammunition magazines, the statement said. The marines also seized approximately 34,400 pesos from Goyta, authorities said.

The men, the money and the weapons were turned over to the Mexican Attorney General's Office for prosecution.