Zetas Leader Captured: Head of Notorious Drug Cartel Arrested in Mexico
People in Mexico and the U.S. border states can breathe a bit easier today, as reports are coming in that Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, the leader of the fearsome Mexican drug cartel the Zetas, has been captured by authorities.
Morales, better known by his contemporaries as "40," has long been sought by authorities on both sides of the border for his ruthless leadership of the Zetas. During his reign he created one of the most violent and powerful drug cartels that has ever existed in Mexico. That reign has now come to end.
"The Drug Enforcement Administration congratulates the Government of Mexico on the arrest of Miguel Trevino Morales," the DEA said in a statement released Tuesday. "Trevino Morales is one of the most significant Mexican cartel leaders to be apprehended in several years and DEA will continue to support the Government of Mexico as it forges ahead in disrupting and dismantling drug trafficking organizations."
Mexican authorities claim that they had been tracking Morales for several months. Early Tuesday morning, a military helicopter was hovering near the border city of Nuevo Laredo when the decision was finally made to swarm in on Morales, who was riding in a pickup truck with some associates.
The arrest itself when fairly smoothly, noted Mexican government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez Hernandez. He said that no shots were fired, though Morales was found with quite an assortment of cargo on him. The cartel leader had $2 million, 8 weapons, and hundreds of rounds of ammunition.
"It's another link in the destruction of the Zetas as a coherent, identifiable organization," said Alejandro Hope, a former member of Mexico's domestic intelligence service. "There will still be people who call themselves Zetas, bands of individuals who maintain the same modus operandi. There will be fights over illegal networks."
What will happen next in the Mexican drug war is still uncertain. Though the Zetas were certainly powerful, there are still the Sinaloa, Gulf, and Tijuana cartels, among others. While Mexico is still a long way away from putting an end to drug violence in the country, the arrest of Morales today was certainly a big step in the right direction.
"History will show that Chapo Guzman [Joaquin "Chapo" Guzman, leader of the Sinaloa cartel] was the bigger narco, but '40' was the villain, the enforcer and game changer, the one who changed the landscape for Mexico, introducing unimaginable violence to the country," observed FBI agent Arturo Fontes.
Through operations in Nuevo Laredo and other border locations, Morales and his Zetas were able to ship hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana across the border, making their way to major U.S. cities such as Los Angeles and Houston. He was such a vital part of this operation that in 2010 the U.S. posted a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.
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