Marines arrest Zetas cartel boss in northern Mexico
Marines arrest Zetas cartel boss in northern Mexico
Published August 11, 2011
Mexico City – The suspected Zetas drug cartel boss in San Nicolas de los Garza, one of Mexico's wealthiest cities, and a female companion were captured by marines, the Navy Secretariat said.
Raul Garcia Rodriguez was arrested in the Cumbres 2 section of Monterrey, the capital of the northern state of Nuevo Leon, by marines acting on a tip from the public, the secretariat said.
A woman identified as Abril Samanta Moron Diaz, who may be the drug trafficker's girlfriend, was also arrested in the operation, the secretariat said.
Marines seized an AK-47 assault rifle, a 9 mm pistol, four loaded ammunition clips, a vehicle, 200 doses of powder cocaine and 100 doses of crack cocaine.
The two suspects were taken to Mexico City and handed over to the Siedo organized crime unit of the Attorney General's Office for prosecution.
San Nicolas de los Garza, a city in the Monterrey metropolitan area, ranks among the 10 cities in Mexico with the highest standards of living.
Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, known as "El Lazca," deserted from the Mexican army in 1999 and formed Los Zetas with three other soldiers, all members of an elite special operations unit, becoming the armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel.
After several years on the payroll of the Gulf cartel, Los Zetas, considered Mexico's most violent criminal organization, went into the drug business on their own account in early 2010 and now control several lucrative territories.
Los Zetas operates in several states, but its stronghold is northeastern Mexico.
The Zetas cartel has increasingly become involved in people trafficking and kidnapping migrants.
Los Zetas has been blamed for several massacres in northern Mexico, including the August 2010 killings of 72 migrants, the majority of them from Central America, at a ranch outside San Fernando, a city in the northeastern state of Tamaulipas.
The cartel has a strong presence in Guatemala, where its gunmen massacred 27 peasants in the northern province of Peten, which borders Mexico and Belize, in May.
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