Mexico Captures Cartel Leader in Peña Nieto’s Biggest Bust

Mexican armed forces captured the head of the Zetas cartel, considered the nation’s most violent criminal gang, marking President Enrique Pena Nieto’s first major security achievement since taking office in December.

Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, known as “Z 40,” was taken into custody near the northern border city of Nuevo Laredo by armed forces who intercepted his pickup truck with a helicopter, Deputy Interior Minister Eduardo Sanchez told reporters last night. Trevino, 40, was unharmed. He was detained by marines with a bodyguard and another man who appeared to be in charge of cartel finances, Sanchez said. Eight weapons and $2 million were seized during the operation.

Trevino’s capture comes as Pena Nieto pledges to use intelligence information to bring down drug-related violence that has left more than 60,000 dead since December 2006. The Zetas have been tied to crimes including the mass killing of 265 migrants in northern Mexico and arson at a Monterrey casino that left 52 dead in 2011. Four members of the gang were convicted in the U.S. in May for laundering money from narcotics smuggling in horse racing.

“If you’re going to reduce violence you have to go after the most violent people,” Eric Farnsworth, head of the Washington office of the Council of the Americas, said in a telephone interview today. “I think this shows that the government of Mexico is serious about going after those people who are creating havoc in Mexico....”

Read more about this article here.