Agents from the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) arrested David Vargas Rivera—alias “El Ocra”—on Tuesday, July 14, at International Bridge No. 2 in Nuevo Laredo, Tamaulipas. National media outlets have identified him as the leading figure in fuel theft operations within the State of Mexico; according to preliminary reports, he was subject to an outstanding arrest warrant for aggravated homicide and was considered a top-priority target by State of Mexico authorities.
The National Detention Registry generated two records under his name on the day of his arrest, documenting the transfer process: he was detained by the FGR’s Federal Ministerial Police at 9:25 a.m. and, hours later, handed over to the State of Mexico’s General Coordination of Investigative Police for transfer to the Ecatepec Penitentiary and Social Reintegration Center.
The location of the arrest—midway across International Bridge No. 2, which connects Nuevo Laredo to Laredo, Texas—raises questions that authorities have not yet answered: whether Vargas Rivera was attempting to cross into the United States, whether he was handed over by U.S. authorities, or whether his presence on the bridge was merely a coincidence.
It is worth noting that he had previously been arrested in 2021, though the reason for his subsequent release remains unknown.
