Alleged hit man arrested in Mexico

ENSENADA, Mexico, Jan. 24 (UPI) -- Authorities in Mexico say they've arrested a hit man responsible for dissolving more than 300 bodies in vats of lye during the last decade.

Santiago Meza Lopez, 45, allegedly worked for Teodoro Garcia Simental, a crime boss battling for control of Tijuana's drug turf, the Los Angeles Times reported Saturday.

Lopez was arrested Thursday when soldiers from the Mexican army raided a resort near Ensenada, about 70 miles south of San Diego. Simental, believed to be in his mid-30s, escaped in the raid.

Lopez locally was known as "El Pozolero del Teo," which roughly translated means "Teo's soup maker." Many of the disintegrated bodies were left in barrels on busy streets in Tijuana with messages threatening to turn rivals of Simental into pozole, a Mexican soup, the Times reported.

Simental has evaded capture with the help of a network of police informants, said Gen. Alfonso Duarte Mugica, Tijuana's top military commander, who maintains Simental will be caught.

"It's been difficult," Duarte said. "But it's not impossible. It's just a matter of time and better intelligence."