HomeNewsBriefPrison Staff Detained After 11 'Zetas' Escape
BRIEF

Prison Staff Detained After 11 'Zetas' Escape

MEXICO / 29 NOV 2011 BY JEANNA CULLINAN EN

Eighteen prison officials are under investigation for allegedly helping the escape of 11 suspected Zetas from a prison in the state of Puebla, southwest Mexico.

The escape was made through a hole in an outer wall of the facility in San Pedro Cholula, southeast of Mexico City.

At least six of the escapees are considered highly dangerous and were segregated from the general prison population. One fugitive, Jose Contreras, is believed to lead Zetas operations in Puebla and has a record of three previous prison breaks. Other escapees include members of a criminal group that has been implicated in the kidnapping of a prominent Puebla business leader last year, according to reports.

The prison administrator and 17 guards will appear before a judge to face charges of assisting the inmates' escape. At a press conference, State Public Security Secretary Ardelio Vargas quickly laid the blame for the breakout on local authorities. After making a personal visit to the correctional facility in mid-November, Vargas warned San Pedro Cholula mayor about possible corruption within the prison, reports Milenio.

The Zetas were thought to be involved in another major jailbreak in Veracruz in September, where a number of the fugitives were later discovered in a Zetas training camp.

share icon icon icon

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

What are your thoughts? Click here to send InSight Crime your comments.

We encourage readers to copy and distribute our work for non-commercial purposes, with attribution to InSight Crime in the byline and links to the original at both the top and bottom of the article. Check the Creative Commons website for more details of how to share our work, and please send us an email if you use an article.

Was this content helpful?

We want to sustain Latin America’s largest organized crime database, but in order to do so, we need resources.

DONATE

Related Content

COLOMBIA / 22 DEC 2022

InSight Crime's GameChangers 2022 looks back at the most consequential criminal stories across Latin America this year.

FENTANYL / 9 MAY 2023

Mexico's Sinaloa Cartel and CJNG depend on a network of brokers to buy precursor chemicals needed to make fentanyl and…

GUATEMALA / 20 DEC 2022

Increased security on land borders is forcing more migrants to enter Mexico from Guatemala by sea, running the risk of…

About InSight Crime

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Contributes Expertise Across the Board 

22 SEP 2023

This week InSight Crime investigators Sara García and María Fernanda Ramírez led a discussion of the challenges posed by Colombian President Gustavo Petro’s “Total Peace” plan within urban contexts. The…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Cited in New Colombia Drug Policy Plan

15 SEP 2023

InSight Crime’s work on emerging coca cultivation in Honduras, Guatemala, and Venezuela was cited in the Colombian government’s…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime Discusses Honduran Women's Prison Investigation

8 SEP 2023

Investigators Victoria Dittmar and María Fernanda Ramírez discussed InSight Crime’s recent investigation of a massacre in Honduras’ only women’s prison in a Twitter Spaces event on…

THE ORGANIZATION

Human Trafficking Investigation Published in Leading Mexican Newspaper

1 SEP 2023

Leading Mexican media outlet El Universal featured our most recent investigation, “The Geography of Human Trafficking on the US-Mexico Border,” on the front page of its August 30…

THE ORGANIZATION

InSight Crime's Coverage of Ecuador Leads International Debate

25 AUG 2023

This week, Jeremy McDermott, co-director of InSight Crime, was interviewed by La Sexta, a Spanish television channel, about the situation of extreme violence and insecurity in Ecuador…