Mexican police: Suspected cartel lieutenant with reward on head captured in Chihuahua

Police capture drug lieutenant in northern Mexico

TIJUANA, Mexico — A suspected drug cartel lieutenant with a quarter-million-dollar reward on his head was captured in the border state of Chihuahua, where rival gangs are waging a bloody turf war, police said Wednesday.

Rogelio Segovia Hernandez, who reputedly helped lead the La Linea gang that worked for the Juarez cartel, was detained Tuesday in the state capital of Chihuahua.

Federal police in a statement claimed that Segovia Hernandez was in charge of killings, drug distribution, extortion and kidnappings for the cartel in the areas around Ciudad Juarez, which lies across the border from El Paso, Texas, as well as in the city of Chihuahua.

Police allege Segovia Hernandez participated in five killings at a ranch in Chihuahua state in 2008.

There was a 3 million peso ($237,000) reward for his capture.

Police said they seized a pistol, a grenade and envelopes of cocaine from Segovia Hernandez when he was arrested.

The Juarez cartel and La Linea, whose members act as enforcers for the cartel, are fighting the Sonora cartel, led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, for control of the lucrative Ciudad Juarez drug-smuggling route.

Also in Ciudad Juarez, police found three decapitated bodies in two different spots.

Chihuahua state prosecutors’ spokesman Arturo Sandoval says one body was found on a street Wednesday morning. Sandoval says two other decapitated bodies were found hours later along with messages saying the men were members of La Linea and the Aztecas. Both groups are linked to the Juarez drug cartel.

Also Wednesday, authorities said gunmen shot to death a police commander in the border city of Tijuana and wounded his partner.

Baja California prosecutors say in a statement Wednesday that state police commander Antonio Sanchez and another officer where in an unmarked car outside the state police office in Tijuana when assailants drove up and opened fire.