A suspected drug cartel lord accused of being responsible for the abduction of 43 college students a decade ago was caught in Mexico after being released from prison in 2019, police said Friday.
According to AFP on Saturday, Gildardo Lopez Astudillo, alias “El Gil,” is an alleged commander of the Guerreros Unidos cartel, accused of being responsible for the disappearance and probable murders of students from Ayotzinapa Teachers’ College in 2014.
Lopez Astudillo was detained in September 2015 in the southern city of Taxco, Guerrero state, around 35 kilometres (21 miles) north of Iguala, where the students went missing.
“Gildardo Lopez Astudillo was detained,” a federal security source with knowledge of the case told reporters Friday, asking for his name not to be used because he was not authorised to speak to the media.
According to the source, Lopez Astudillo has been transported to the Altiplano maximum security jail in Mexico State.
He was arrested on allegations of “organised crime,” but the inquiry may be widened, according to the source.
The 43 students were on their way to a political demonstration in Mexico City in September 2014 when they were kidnapped by the drug gang and corrupt police, according to authorities.
The exact circumstances of their disappearance remain unknown, but a government-appointed truth panel has labelled the episode a “state crime,” claiming that the military shared blame, either directly or via incompetence.
Dozens of individuals have been arrested or ordered detained, including military members and a former attorney general who headed a contentious probe into the mass disappearance.
Only a few victims‘ remains have been identified. Lopez Astudillo was released in 2019—a decision decried by the missing students’ families—after a judge determined that the evidence against him was obtained improperly.
His arrest comes as relatives plan demonstrations to commemorate the anniversary of the students’ disappearance.
