Mexican Authorities Detain Suspect in Journalist Miroslava Breach Killing

Mexican authorities have detained a suspect in connection with the murder of 54-year-old journalist Miroslava Breach.

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Juan Carlos Moreno Ochoa known as “El Larry” was accused of being the mastermind behind the hit by the governor for the northern state of Chihuahua, Javier Corral.

Ochoa was held along with two others, on Monday, in Bacobampo, the National Security Commission said in a statement.

State attorney general Cesar Augusto Peniche told Reforma newspaper that the 43-year-old suspect is allegedly a member of the “Los Salazar” criminal organization, a branch of Mexico's notorious Sinaloa drug cartel.

Corral disclosed that Ramon Zavala, who was believed to have been the triggerman who shot the journalist, was killed by unknown assailants on Friday.

Breach was shot dead outside her home in March. She was a veteran crime and politics reporter for the newspapers La Jornada and Norte de Juarez. She wrote extensively on drug trafficking and government corruption.

She is among almost a dozen reporters who have been brutally murdered in the Central American state in 2017. Some 16 journalists have been killed in Mexico in the last three years bringing the tally to 43 since 1992.

Mexico is the world's second-most dangerous country for journalists, behind Syria, according to Reporters Without Borders.

Over 100 journalists have been killed since 2000.