Police chief found dead inside vehicle set on fire in northern Mexico

Police chief found dead inside vehicle set on fire in northern Mexico

2011-02-14 21:53:11 GMT+7 (ICT)

NUEVO LEON, MEXICO (BNO NEWS) -- A police chief on Sunday was found dead inside a vehicle set on fire in northern Mexico, El Universal newspaper reported on Monday.

At about 10:35 p.m. local time, a van was set on fire in the streets of downtown Monterrey city in Nuevo Leon state. Police officers were rushed to the scen and a body was found in the back seat of the vehicle.

After firefighters controlled the fire, the body was identified as Homero Salcido Treviño, the head of the C5 division of the state police force. The victim was shot dead before the vehicle was set ablaze.

According to preliminary reports, the C5 chief was killed execution style before he was tied and left on the van's back seat. Then, the criminals set the vehicle on fire using gasoline and an explosive device.

The vehicle was left in the intersection between Ignacio Vallarta Street and Washington Street. Treviño was missing since Sunday morning after leaving his home without bodyguards.

On February 3, a police chief was killed by unknown gunmen in the northern state of Tamaulipas. Manuel Farfan was gunned down at about midnight in Nuevo Laredo city near the U.S. border city of Laredo, Texas.

Farfan had only 33 days as police chief and was killed along 5 of his bodyguards. He was a retired service member of the Mexican Army. He was one of the nine former Army members appointed by Mexican authorities this year.

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