Gunmen steal Mexican drug lord’s body

MEXICO CITY - Agence France-Presse

A major coup for Mexican authorities turned to embarrassment on Oct. 9 as it emerged that the body of the slain leader of the Zetas drug cartel had been stolen from a funeral parlor.

Heriberto Lazcano was Mexico’s second most-wanted man and his killing was the government’s biggest blow against drug cartels since it deployed federal troops to fight them in 2006. Lazcano’s corpse and that of another man were taken to a funeral home in the northern state of Coahuila after they were killed on Oct. 7 with naval special forces. But a gang of heavily-armed men wearing face masks later entered the parlor and subdued the staff, Coahuila state prosecutor Homero Ramos said. The Mexican navy, which conducted the operation against the Zetas leader, said fingerprints and photographs had been used to identify the body as Lazcano’s before it was stolen.