Mexico: Body of Zetas drug gang leader Lazcano stolen

BBC News, 9 October 2012

Mexico's drugs war 

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• Gruesome tactics
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• Hunting El Chapo

Heriberto Lazcano: One of the
founders of Los Zetas

The body of the leader of a Mexican drug cartel, who was killed in a shootout with marines, has been stolen by an armed gang, state officials say.

The corpse of Heriberto Lazcano, founder of the brutal Los Zetas gang, was being stored by the authorities at a funeral parlour in northern Mexico.

The Mexican Navy said tests confirmed that the man killed was Lazcano.

The Zetas cartel has been implicated in a string of mass killings and kidnappings.

Lazcano was killed on Sunday in the northern state of Coahuila but his identity had not been confirmed until now.

The Navy said that fingerprints taken from the body were compared with those on their database, confirming that it was Lazcano.

Also photos of the corpse's face were compared with previous photographs of Lazcano.

The Navy said the body had then been handed over to the local authorities in Coahuila.

Coahuila attorney general Homero Ramos said a group of armed men raided the funeral parlour where the body was being kept early on Monday, and stole the corpse.

Mexican police believe a recent surge in mass killings is due to a split within the Zetas cartel.

Lazcano was thought to be the leader of one faction, while the other is led by Miguel Angel Trevino Morales.

In the nearly six years that outgoing President Felipe Calderon has been in power, more than 50,000 people are believed to have died in violence blamed on organised crime.

Lazcano's death is a victory in the fight against cartels, analysts say.