Ecuadorean police arrest man for allegedly smuggling migrant who survived massacre in Mexico

Police nab alleged smuggler of Ecuadorean migrant

QUITO, Ecuador — Authorities have detained an alleged smuggler of an Ecuadorean man who told police he survived a massacre of 72 fellow migrants in Mexico, the justice minister confirmed Sunday.

Police arrested Miguel Angel Dutan Meneses on Saturday at his house in Biblian, a hamlet 140 miles (230 kilometers) south of the capital of Quito, said Justice Minister Jose Serrano.

Dutan appeared Saturday before a judge, who ordered him jailed while authorities continue their investigation, Serrano said.

Among the suspect’s possessions, authorities found a money order for $3,000 made out to a woman in Honduras, said Romeo Garate, district attorney in the province of Canar, where Biblian is located. Garate told local news media that the discovery could indicate Dutan is part of a larger smuggling network.

Serrano said that authorities believe Dutan helped to smuggled Ecuadorean Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla to Mexico.

Lala, 18, told authorities he survived the massacre of 72 Central American and South American migrants at a ranch in the northern Mexican state of Tamaulipas, which has been embroiled in a vicious turf battle between the Zetas drug cartel and its former employer, the Gulf cartel.

Police believe that Dutan also smuggled a second Ecuadorean migrant who was killed in the massacre last month, Garate said.

Mexican authorities believe the Zetas kidnapped the migrants, most, if not all of whom were headed for the U.S., and gunned them down after they refused to work for the cartel.

Marines found their bound, blindfolded bodies slumped against a wall after raiding the ranch.

Cartels have increasingly tried to recruit vulnerable migrants to smuggle drugs, Mexican officials say.