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Mexico arrested a former police chief at the heart of an investigation into the forced disappearance of 43 student teachers from the Ayotzinapa training college two years ago, security officials said on Friday.
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Felipe Flores was chief of police in Iguala when the students disappeared on the night of Sept. 26, 2014. He is believed to have allowed police to attack the students and subsequently detain them before allegedly handing them over to an organized crime group.
Flores, who had been a fugitive for two years, was arrested while visiting his wife in Iguala, national security commissioner Renato Sales told a news conference.
Felipe de la Cruz, spokesperson for the families of the disappeared students, said they hoped his arrest would help clear up lingering doubts about the events of Sept. 26, 2014.
Although Flores is considered a key suspect in the case, the spokesperson for the relatives of the missing students said there were still other suspects at large and the former police chief would likely not be able to answer all outstanding questions.
The families of the missing students continue to demand the government fulfill their commitment to finding their children.
While Flores was the security official in charge of issuing the order to attack the students, he may not have information regarding the ultimate whereabouts of the students.
The government's initial findings, which allege that the 43 were abducted by corrupt police handed over to a drug cartel who then mistook them for members of a rival gang, has been largely discredited.
Critics of the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto have accused officials of deliberately downplaying the role of state security officials and further allege that the Mexican Armed Forces were likely involved in the forced disappearance of the 43 students.
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