Mexican troops gun down traffickers, bodies found

Mexican soldiers shot dead at an unspecified date five men identified as members of The Zetas drug cartel, in the district of Córdoba in the east-coast state of Veracruz, the daily Milenio reported on 27 December. Three cars, arms and a rocket launcher were confiscated after the shootout. State authorities identified one of the killed as the Zetas' chief in the Córdoba district, a man dubbed El Pokemón. Authorities in the northern state of Nuevo León presented five detainees on 27 December also identified as Zetas and suspected as involved in at least 22 killings as well as drug dealing in northern Nuevo León, El Universal reported. They were detained in the district of Anáhuac; the state security spokesman Jorge Domene Zambrano said the gang's victims were mostly thought to be members of the rival Gulf Cartel whose bodies were burned on local ranches forcibly taken over by the gang. Ten bodies were separately found in graves in the north-central state of Zacatecas on 26 December; three were found in a secret grave in the locality of Sauceda de la Borda north of the city of Zacatecas, after neighbours called the police for the putrid smell, Milenio reported, citing Notimex. Seven were found further north in the district of Miguel Auza, El Universal reported.