THE BORDER REPORT

Mexican Army officials have detained four men in the killing of a state police commander in southern Sonora last week. But in addition to the four they've identified, the law enforcement community along the border is wondering if Francisco Hernandez Garcia, aka Dos Mil, was also arrested. (Thank you, Gordo, for bringing it to my attention.)

The four are accused of kidnapping state police commander Ramon Ontamucha about ten days ago. Ontamucha was a former police officer in Agua Prieta hired by Ramon Tacho Verdugo who was murdered in 2007. What police did not say until pressed by Hermosillo newspaper El Imparcial, was that Ontamucha was only one of six people kidnapped that day. Yesterday, Roberto Antonio Díaz, aka Rambo, was arrested for the kidnapping. A series of bodies have since turned up, presumably those of Ontamucha and the five others, though that has still not been confirmed.

A Mexican CIA report pegs Sr. Rambo as one of the ringleaders behind the massacre in Cananea in spring 2007 that left 23 dead. Now, the rumor is that in addition to him, two men and two women, Dos Mil was also arrested.

We've been down this road before, of course. It was almost exactly a year ago that the rumor surfaced Dos Mil had been arrested in Casas Grandes, near the Chihuahua border. Sources within Homeland Security here in Arizona said they'd heard the same rumors. The chismes were denounced (and quite publicly) by state prosecutor Abel Murrietta.

Let's see what happens now.