Drug Trafficking 2014: Gulf Drug Lord Juan Manuel Rodriguez Garcia Busted by Mexican Marines
Mexican authorities busted a high-ranking Gulf drug cartel kingpin on Sunday.
According to Reuters, Juan Manuel Rodriguez Garcia, a regional leader of the Gulf Cartel, was arrested by marines in the northern industrial city of Monterrey, as announced by National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido at a news conference in Mexico City.
Garcia's organization is accused of trafficking drugs, guns and money, reports the New York Daily News. Officials also say that his org is responsible for the kidnapping of Central American migrants and a number of recent shoot outs and massacres in the northern state of Tamaulipas.
The detainee was behind numerous violent acts, including the "wave of violence in the cities of Reynosa, Rio Bravo, Matamoros, Tampico and Vallehermoso," Rubido said, reports Fox News Latino. "He was responsible for smuggling drugs, money and arms across the border bridges," Rubido added.
In addition, Rubido said, "There are indications that he ordered mass kidnappings of undocumented migrants, who were forced to work for his group or, if they refused, were killed."
The 39-year-old Gulf cartel boss, who went by the alias "Juan Perros," was identified as a top criminal target by the federal government earlier this month as part of the new law enforcement strategy for Tamaulipas, said the security official.
According to Rubido, Rodriguez became head of the cocaine-trafficking Gulf cartel after the arrest of Mario Armando Ramirez Treviño in August 2013. However, "not everyone accepted" being under his command, leading to internal fighting and "a surge in violence in Tamaulipas," Rubido said. "The command of Rodriguez Garcia was not recognized by all the criminal factions of the group."
The drug lord reportedly worked mainly out of the northeastern states of Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon, where he was born, reports Fox News Latino.
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