A feared cartel lord in Mexico City came close to walking out of prison after a federal judge ordered his release. The judge ruled his recent drug trafficking arrest was illegal in nature. However, Mexico City Police officers were waiting for him outside to re-arrest him on kidnapping charges.
Mexico City Police officers and prosecutors set up an operation on Saturday afternoon outside the Altiplano Federal Prison. Police arrested Oscar Andres “El Lunares” Flores, on a kidnapping charge as he walked out of the detention center. Flores is the current leader of the Union de Tepito, a drug cartel that controls all of the criminal activity in most parts of Mexico City.
A video shared by citizen journalists on social media captured the moment when a female officer reads the new charge against Flores and takes him into custody.
Después de que un juez ordenara su liberación, este sábado detuvieron de nuevo a Óscar Andrés Flores Ramirez Alias ‘El Lunares’, líder de la Unión Tepito. pic.twitter.com/9GDGapOT1c
— La Voz Del Pueblo (Oficial) (@LPueblo2) February 8, 2020
The new arrest came just hours after Mexican federal judge Beatriz Moguel ordered his release. The judge also order the release of two of his henchmen claiming that their arrest was illegal in nature.
The federal judge claimed there were numerous inconsistencies with the arrest reports filed by Mexican authorities and dismissed the case, Mexico’s La Silla Rota reported. Mexican authorities initially arrested Flores on January 31 during a law enforcement operation. Police transported him to Altiplano in connection with various ongoing investigations.
In October, Mexican authorities carried out a series of raids in the suburb of Tepito where they discovered various narco-tunnels, a witchcraft altar, a drug production kitchen, and multiple weapons — including a rocket launcher, Breitbart Texas reported. Flores was the main target behind those raids, however, he managed to escape before authorities arrived. At the time police officers arrested 31 individuals, however days later another judge in Mexico ordered the release of 27 of those and eventually, all the suspects walked out of prison. The arguments by Judge Felipe de Jesus Delgadillo Padierna were that authorities had fabricated the evidence against the various members of the Union de Tepito Cartel, Breitbart Texas reported at the time.
Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.
Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.
COMMENTS
Please let us know if you're having issues with commenting.