EL PASO, Texas (Border Report) — Mexican authorities say they have captured an alleged Jalisco cartel hitman suspected of murdering a federal judge and a lawmaker from the state of Colima.

Jaime Tafolla Ortega, a.k.a. “El Alacran” (The Scorpion), allegedly gunned down Judge Uriel Villegas Ortiz and his wife, Veronica Barajas, on June 16, the Mexican Attorney General’s Office said in a statement. Tafolla is also suspected of leading the Arpil 29 abduction of Colima state Rep. Anel Bueno Sanchez, whose body was found in a clandestine grave on June 2.

Tafolla was arrested by Mexican marines and federal police Sunday in Colima, along with a second man who has not been charged yet, the AG’s Office said.

Villegas gained notoriety in 2018 when he ordered the transfer of Ruben Oseguera Gonzalez from a jail in Oaxaca to a maximum security prison in Jalisco. Oseguera, son of Jalisco cartel drug lord Nemesio Oseguera, a.k.a. “El Mencho,” was extradited this year to the U.S. to face drug charges.

Tafolla and a team of assassins allegedly gunned down the judge and his wife coming out of their home in the Real Vista neighborhood in Colima earlier this month.

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Prior to his death, the judge had issued a warrant for the arrest of Tafolla and Ayard Buenrostro in connection with the murder of Bueno, Mexican authorities said.

Mexican press reports say the judge also issued a search warrant which resulted in the arrest of Tafolla’s parents and brother on drugs and weapons charges.

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