By News/Web Producer Joe Villasana

JUAREZ -- The Mexican Military dealt a blow to the "La Linea" criminal organization Wednesday as they arrested three of its alleged hitmen. La Linea has been known to be the "street enforcement" branch of the Juarez Cartel.

The three suspects were presented to the media at once but were arrested in two separate incidents.

Juan Gerardo Hernandez Del Real, 24, a.k.a. "El Moreno," was arrested Wednesday. At the time of his arrest, he was in possession of two firearms and crack cocaine, according to officials with "Operation Conjunta Chihuahua," a joint law enforcement operation involving Juarez Municipal Police, Chihuahua State Police, Mexican Federal Police and the Mexican Military.

Del Real confessed to being a hitman for La Linea and said he operated mainly in the Colonia Babicora, officials said, adding he also confessed to participating in the killings of 33 people and the ambush and slaughter of a Mexican Army Captain in the "Bol-Bol Billiards Bar" last month.

In a separate incident Wednesday, army soldiers patrolling a south Juarez Colonia arrested Javier Martinez Gomez, 39, a.k.a. "El Tijuas;" and Armando Rosales Arteaga, 44, a.k.a. "El Mandis."

Martinez Gomez and Rosales Arteaga were arrested after a brief car chase, said officials. They were eventually apprehended and soldiers found several pistols, a rifle, a semi-automatic weapon, cocaine and pot.

Both suspects confessed to being La Linea hitmen and to running a drug trafficking operation out of Chihuahua City, officials said. According to investigators, both men were also paid $50 to smuggle narcotics inside backpacks into the U.S. on foot from the Colonia Anapra, which is across the border from the University of Texas at El Paso.

Officials said Martinez Gomez confessed to killing 12 people in and around Juarez and Rosales Arteaga confessed to killing 24 people.

All suspects are currently being held pending the outcome of an investigation. They have not been charged.