JAKARTA - Mexican authorities arrested retired general Jose Rodriguez on suspicion of his involvement in the disappearance of 43 teacher students in 2014, a senior official said.
This arrest makes him the highest-ranking military officer so far, who was detained in the case.
Deputy Security Minister Ricardo Mejia said four recently issued arrest warrants against military officials for the kidnapping of 43 students in the southwestern city of Iguana in 2014.
"Currently, three of them have been detained and detained, including the commander of the 27th infantry battalion at the time," Mejia told a news conference.
Rodriguez was responsible for the unit during the kidnapping, which the government previously said was carried out by corrupt local police, in collaboration with local drug gangs.
After delivering a case review by the current government, Deputy Minister of Home Affairs Alejandro Encinas said by the end of August the six missing students were handed over alive to Rodriguez and she had ordered them to be killed.
Asked for comment on allegations against Rodriguez, Mexico's Ministry of Defense said it had no information.
The government called the case a'state crime' in its report, which accused local, state and federal authorities, including the Army, of involvement and covering up student disappearances.
The Army was then led by Salvador Cienfuegos, who later became the center of a diplomatic altercation with the United States, when he was arrested by US officials at Los Angeles airport on drug charges in 2020.
He denied wrongdoing and the case was later canceled.
Separately, two Mexican officials said the government had no plans to pursue Cienfuegos over the disappearance.
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