Mexican authorities say they have detained Daniel Quintero Riestra, a man accused of murder and kidnapping, in the western state of Jalisco.

Quintero is also the primary suspect in the murder of Jalisco’s former secretary of tourism, Jesus Gallegos Alvarez.

The BBC reports that Quintero was arrested on a boat just off Isla Mujeres. According to security official Renato Sales, Quintero, who goes by the nickname “El Dany,” was arrested without any shots being fired.

Deemed a "priority target" by the Mexican government, Quintero is considered to be the head of the Jalisco New Generation, a cartel responsible for much of the criminal activity in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco.

Not yet as powerful as the Zetas or the Sinaloa cartel, the Jalisco New Generation has been actively demonstrating its expansion. As Macleans reports, in recent years the Jalisco New Generation has apparently taken over the production and the trafficking of methamphetamines in Jalisco and in the state of Michoacán.

In May, the Jalisco New Generation brazenly shot down an army helicopter in Jalisco, which resulted in the deaths of six soldiers.

As for the 2013 murder of Gallegos, authorities claimed that his death was likely tied to "private commercial" activities that were outside of his duties as the secretary of tourism in Jalisco.

This may not, however, be the case, as in Mexico, public politics and private commercial dealings are often tied to a criminal element. Speaking to the Houston Chronicle, George Grayson, an academic expert in Mexican politics, described the dangerous lifestyle the government title brought to Gallegos. According to Grayson, tourism secretaries are "often involved in negotiations with fat cat developers. Many of those developers are shadowy figures because lot of money has to be laundered there."