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QUITO, Ecuador?Ecuadoran police said Sunday they have arrested a suspected human smuggler with alleged links to the Ecuadoran man who survived a massacre of 72 migrants last month in Mexico.
The man was apprehended Friday night at his home in the town of Biblian, 300 kilometers (186 miles) south of the capital Quito, authorities said.
At the suspect's house, police found evidence, including money orders, allegedly linking him to the smuggling of a Honduran woman and other migrants, including Ecuadoran massacre survivor Luis Freddy Lala Pomavilla.
The 18-year-old was returned to Ecuador after being shot in the face during the massacre on a ranch in the Mexican border state of Tamaulipas. He survived by playing dead and later pointed the finger at the ruthless Zetas drug gang.
The Ecuadoran teenager told police the group had been kidnapped and killed by members of the armed gang, which is heavily involved in the drug trade and organized crime and known for extorting migrants.
Seventy-two bodies were found late last month after Mexican marines engaged the kidnappers in a fire fight at the ranch.
Most of the 58 men and 14 women killed were migrants from Honduras, El Salvador, Ecuador, and Brazil seeking better lives in the United States.
The killings highlighted the horrific risks taken by hundreds of thousands of migrants seeking to reach the United States each year.
