13-year-old assassin murdered in central Mexico

Mexican authorities say a teenager who had confessed to being a hitman for a violent drug cartel has been killed execution style in the central state of Zacatecas.

State attorney Arturo Nahle Garcia said on Monday that the 13-year-old boy, identified as Jose Armando Moreno Leos, had been arrested only three weeks ago by the Mexican Federal Police, CNN reported.

“After being detained, he confessed to authorities that he had participated in at least 10 homicides and that he was somebody who was good at shooting with a high-caliber weapon,” Nahle Garcia said.

The Federal Police released the boy into the custody of the Mexican Attorney General’s Office after his February arrest. The teenager was later set free in compliance with the law.

The Mexican constitution prohibits the incarceration of anybody under the age of 14.

According to Nahle Garcia, Moreno Leos did not turn up at a court session on February 20.

“Only his mother appeared before the judge to say that she had lost control of her son after he left the house at about age 11,” the prosecutor said.

The boy’s body was found on February 28 alongside a highway in the municipality of Morelos.

The bodies of five other people, four females and one male, were also found at the same location.

At least 70,000 people have been killed in drug-related violence in Mexico since former President Felipe Calderon launched an offensive against Mexico’s drug cartels in December 2006.

Current Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has vowed to reduce the crime rate as he continues the campaign against the drug cartels.