text: Antonio Sierra, AP 
   
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   (Dec. 3) -- A 14-year-old boy suspected of being a paid assassin for Mexican drug smugglers and taking part in beheadings was arrested as he tried to flee to his native California , media reports said.The boy -- who allegedly says he has worked for the South Pacific drug cartel since he was 11 years old -- was arrested Thursday night as he tried to board a plane in Cuernavaca, south of Mexico City. He was traveling with two of his sisters.Known by the nickname "El Ponchis," the teen has allegedly admitted to participating in at least four decapitations, The Associated Press reported . His first name is Edgar, but AOL News is withholding his last name because he is underage."I participated in four executions, but I did it drugged and under threat that if I didn't, they would kill me," the teen said, according to the AP.Drug-related violence has intensified in Mexico as cartels battle one another and the army to gain access to the multibillion-dollar U.S. market. The bloodshed has increasingly moved south from the border region to previously quiet locations such as Cuernavaca and business center Monterrey.Edgar was born in San Diego and thus has U.S. citizenship. He was arrested as he tried to fly to the Mexican border city of Tijuana. Once there, he reportedly planned to cross the border to San Diego.Authorities are checking to see if he is also a Mexican citizen, Reuters reported.Rumors about the existence of a child hit man nicknamed "El Ponchis" have been circulating for weeks. He was tied to a string of murders, including beheadings.Edgar allegedly received $2,500 for each killing, Reuters reported, citing a local media story. The minimum wage in Mexico is less than $5 a day.The teen and six men allegedly confessed to killing people and hanging their bodies from bridges in Cuernavaca, Agence France-Presse reported . Cartels have taken to displaying their victims in public as a means of intimidating local authorities and the media.Authorities say Edgar's teenage sisters were accomplices in the killings, often acting as decoys to lure victims. Some media reports even say that one of the sisters was the lover of a cartel boss. The AP quoted a source as saying that one of the sisters was accused of disposing of victims' bodies by dumping them on streets.It is not clear what the nickname "El Ponchis" refers to. ||||| In cargo pants and a T-shirt, the skinny, American-born 14-year-old looked like he should be in middle school. Instead he was surrounded by three armed Mexican soldiers in ski masks and camouflage as he told reporters that he helped a Mexican drug gang behead four people. 
   
   Mexican army soldiers escort a 14-year-old suspected of working as a killer for a drug cartel in the city of Cuernavaca, Mexico, Friday Dec. 3, 2010. The much-rumored alleged young assassin nicknamed... (Associated Press) 
   
   Mexican officials say they arrested the youth known as "El Ponchis" late Thursday at an airport south of Mexico City with a 19-year-old sister who is accused of helping him dump the bodies. Authorities said he was caught with two cell phones that held photographs of tortured victims. 
   
   Many youths have been used by drug cartels in their bloody battles against the government and each other, but the story of El Ponchis may be the most shocking. A YouTube video that emerged a month ago sparked talk of a child hit man _ said by some to be as young as 12. 
   
   "I participated in four executions, but I did it drugged and under threat that if I didn't, they would kill me," the boy said calmly when he was handed over to the federal prosecutor Friday morning, showing no remorse. 
   
   Authorities identified the curly-haired suspect by his first name only _ Edgar. 
   
   He told reporters early Friday he was kidnapped at the age of 11 and forced to work for the Cartel of the South Pacific, a branch of the splintered Beltran Leyva gang, and that he had participated in at least four decapitations. 
   
   Authorities said the siblings were detained at an airport near Cuernavaca in Morelos state with paid tickets to flee the country. 
   
   Morelos Gov. Marco Adame Castillo said the boy was born in San Diego, California, and Mexican officials were researching whether he has dual nationality. A U.S. Embassy official who spoke on condition of anonymity due to embassy policy said American officials had not yet confirmed his citizenship. 
   
   The boy's sister said they were headed for Tijuana, where they planned to cross the border and seek refuge with their stepmother in San Diego. Their mother sent them money for the tickets, she said, but it was not clear where their parents are. 
   
   The army did not say whether the children had passed security when they were detained. Neither has been formally charged. 
   
   The two allegedly worked for Julio "El Negro" Padilla, who has been fighting for control of the drug trade in Morelos, formerly part of the territory under the Beltran Leyva gang, which broke up with the killing of leader Arturo Beltran Leyva by Mexican marines a year ago. The battle among remnants of the gang has caused an unprecedented spike in violence in Morelos and in neighboring Guerrero state, where the resort city of Acapulco is located. 
   
   El Ponchis' sister said she was the girlfriend of Padilla and part of a group of girls called Las Chabelas, who helped dump bodies on streets and freeways in and around Cuernavaca, a city about 56 miles (90 kilometers) south of Mexico City. She said her brother introduced them. 
   
   An adult sister picked up at the airport appeared with the two Friday, but authorities said she has no ties to drug trafficking. 
   
   Stories of a hit boy, maybe as young as 12, spread after a YouTube video appeared last month with teens mugging for the camera next to corpses and guns. One boy on the video alleged that "El Ponchis" was his accomplice. State and federal authorities refused to confirm El Ponchis even existed. 
   
   In the video, the youth told an unseen questioner that his gang was paid $3,000 per killing. 
   
   "When we don't find the rivals, we kill innocent people, maybe a construction worker or a taxi driver," the youth is heard saying. 
   
   Figures obtained by The Associated Press from Mexico's attorney general's office show that the number of youths 18 and under detained for drug-related crimes has climbed steadily since President Felipe Calderon launched his assault on cartels in 2006. There were 482 that year and 810 in 2009. There were 562 in the first eight months of this year, on track to surpass last year. 
   
   Calderon has acknowledged that "in the most violent areas of the country, there is an unending recruitment of young people without hope, without opportunities." 
   
   The federal government has said the cartels are recruiting ever younger assassins to replace those killed or arrested in the current wars among the gangs and with the government. The government also has said that cartels prefer underage youths because they shorter sentences if caught. 
   
   Unlike the United States, Mexico has no system for trying juveniles as adults, though a bill that would establish such a provision is before the Mexican Senate. In Mexico, juveniles are sentenced to youth detention centers and are freed at age 18. 
   
   Although state courts handle crimes by juveniles in Mexico, authorities in Morelos have asked Mexico's federal government to take over the case because of the gravity of the crimes. 
   
   Neighbors said the siblings were living in a cartel safehouse in a poor neighborhood of Jiutepec, a working-class suburb of Cuernavaca. The area has an industrial area with Nissan, Unilever and other factories, rustic single-level concrete homes and some farms. 
   
   ________ 
   
   Associated Press Writer Mark Stevenson contributed to this report from Cancun.
target: – A notorious hit man in Mexico known for beheading his victims and displaying them in public is a US-born kid all of 14 years old, reports AP. Mexican authorities arrested the youth identified only as Edgar—who they say goes by "El Ponchis," or the cloaked one—as he tried to leave the country by plane. He said he's worked for a cartel since he was 11, after being kidnapped. "I participated in four executions," he said, "but I did it drugged and under threat that if I didn't, they would kill me." He carried two cell phones with photos of tortured victims, say police, who also arrested an older sister accused of helping him dispose of corpses. Mexican authorities say the youth is a native of San Diego, though his US citizenship remains unconfirmed. Rumors of the young hit man emerged about a month ago with a YouTube video that showed teens mugging for the camera next to corpses. One of them named "El Ponchis" as an accomplice. Click here for more.