14-year-old hitman jailed for murders and kidnapping

A COURT in Mexico has sentenced a 14-year-old US citizen and drug gang hitman to three years in a juvenile prison for murder, kidnapping and trafficking cocaine.

Edgar Jimenez, known as “El Ponchis,” worked for the South Pacific drug cartel in Morelos state outside Mexico City until his capture by Mexican soldiers in December, when he attempted to travel to the United States.

The attorney general’s office in Morelos said a local juvenile court had found the minor guilty of four crimes including killing four people whose mutilated bodies were found hanging from a bridge not far from Mexico City last August.

An army statement in December said Jimenez had admitted killing at least seven people under the influence of drugs provided by the cartel’s leader.

Minors have increasingly been drawn into the Mexican government’s conflict with drug gangs, which has claimed around 40,000 lives in 4-and-a-half years.

Mexicans have become used to hearing about death in recent years, but Jimenez’s youth and the brutal nature of his crimes caused shock when the reports surfaced last year.

Edgar Jimenez Lugo, was given the maximum sentenced allowed for a minor.

Authorities say the teenager confessed to working for the South Pacific drug cartel, led by reputed drug lord Hector Beltran Leyva.

When he was handed over to federal prosecutors, the boy calmly said that he participated in killings while drugged and under threat.

In November, stories of a hit boy, maybe as young as 12, spread after a YouTube video appeared with teens posing for the camera next to corpses and guns.

Jimenez was born in San Diego, California. He and a sister were arrested in December as they tried to board a plane to Tijuana, where they planned to cross the border and reunite with their mother in San Diego.