Mexican police arrest Zetas ‘cartel boss’
Authorities arrest former soldier ‘El Mamito’, sought over the murder of a US immigration official earlier this year.
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| Rejon-Aguilar, a former Mexican soldier, deserted from the army in 1999 [Reuters] |
Mexican police have arrested an alleged founding member of the Zetas drug cartel who was sought in connection with the murder of a US immigration agent in February, according to Mexico’s security ministry.
Police captured Jesus “El Mamito” Rejon-Aguilar in a Mexico City suburb on Sunday “without firing a shot,” the ministry said in a statement on Monday.
Rejon-Aguilar was traveling with a Mexico City police officer who was brokering the drug lord’s passage through the region, the ministry said. The police officer was also arrested.
Rejon-Aguilar is a former soldier in the Mexican army, who deserted in February 1999, and a month later joined the group that founded the Zetas cartel, Mexican authorities said.
He is currently third in command of the cartel – considered the country’s most brutal, according to Mexican authorities.
The US had offered a $5m dollar reward for Rejon-Aguilar, who the Mexican security ministry said
played a role in the shooting of two US Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents earlier this year.
The agents were driving in an armoured vehicle on a highway from San Luis Potosi to Mexico City in February
when they were ambushed in broad daylight by suspected drug gang members.
One ICE agent, Jaime Zapata, was killed and another agent, Victor Avila, was wounded in the leg.
Among the most wanted
“Rejon Aguilar, was among the most wanted criminals by the federal government,” the Head of the Narcotics Division of the Federal Police, Ramon Pequeno, told a news conference on Monday.
“Jesus Enrique Rejon-Aguilar, alias ‘El Mamito’ is allegedly responsible and is the intellectual author of
deaths in the northeast of the country.”
Rejon-Aguilar is also accused of over shipments of marijuana and cocaine from Mexico to the United States.
Mexicohas become the battleground for brutal turf wars between the Zetas and other drug cartels. Around 40,000 people have died in Mexico’s drug wars since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006.
Calderon has deployed the military onto the streets to take on the cartels.