Overview

• State prosecutors detained Álvaro “N” (“El Santero”) along with Édgar “N” (“El Árabe”) and Ricardo “N” (“El Filos”) after a multiweek investigation led by the Agencia Estatal de Investigación.
• Searches tied to the case in Colonia Los Venados, 20 de Noviembre and Ignacio Ramírez yielded altars associated with Santa Muerte, containers with human blood and other items linked to alleged rituals.
• The three men were placed before a Baja California judge on charges of homicidio calificado con ventaja related to the killings of three men in August.
• Authorities say the victims were abducted overnight on August 11–12, killed by throat-cutting, bound, wrapped in plastic and left on Vía Rápida Oriente near the Panteón Monte de Los Olivos.
• The state fiscal said the suspects had recently arrived from other states, including the State of Mexico, and allegedly sought to establish criminal leadership in Tijuana while forensics continue to test the seized blood and probe possible additional crimes.