Martin Juarez Campos
Police arrested a man who flaunted his criminal lifestyle on Facebook and discovered that the self-proclaimed drug baron was a forklift driver.
Martin Juarez Campos, 24, identified as M. Juarez, commander of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, the ruthless criminal organization responsible for a string of murderous attacks on police and military earlier this year.
In regular posts aimed at his more than 2000 followers, Juarez posted photos and videos of luxury vehicles, submachine guns and supposed cartel members. He later admitted to taking pictures from well-known websites such as Blog del Narco.
On his profile, Juarez made statements on behalf of the criminal organization to which he claimed allegiance.
“We just want to apologize to the people for setting Guadalajara aflame, but we had no choice but to put a stop to a government which has been messing with us in recent months.”
Juarez even feigned familiarity with infamous drug lord Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as El Mencho. One of his m
ost recent posts was a video in which he opened a box with a gold-plated pistol inside and thanked El Mencho, his boss, for the gift.
Such brazen social media boasting is nothing new among drug traffickers, so authorities seem to have taken his claims seriously.
Yet when police swooped on Juarez’s home they found he had no criminal links whatsoever. The internet gangster later admitted to being obsessed with narco-culture. “I never meant to harm anyone,” Juarez stated. “I was just inspired by some other profiles, and for fun, I decided to copy them.”
Juarez was briefly held in the maximum security prison Puente Grande, outside of Guadalajara.
Drug kingpin Joaquin “Chapo” Guzman is a former inmate, until he reportedly escaped in a laundry cart in 2001. Earlier this year, a prisoner stabbed and killed his whole family with a sharpened wire when they visited him at the facility.
Yet Juarez seemed reluctant to rub shoulders with the Mexican criminal elite and quickly paid his bail of 20,000 pesos ($1200).
He still faces charges of “provoking and apologizing” for crime, an offence that can carry a penalty of one to six months in prison.
Twitter: @Stephentwoodman
The Mexican Labyrinth 