Mexico police capture notorious drug lord
Mexican federal police have arrested the infamous leader of a notorious drug cartel in the western state of Michoacan, a federal official says.
According to the National Security Commission official on Friday, Knights Templar drug cartel leader Servando Gomez, 49, was detained in Morelia, capital of the western state of Michoacan.
The arrest of Gomez "La Tuta," who was one of the most wanted fugitives in Mexico, is considered as a heavy blow to the drug cartel.
La Tuta was the fourth leader of the drug cartel to have been arrested by the Mexican police.
Gomez reportedly became de facto lord of the criminal group after, Nazario "El Chayo" Moreno, the cartel’s top leader, was killed by Mexico’s Marines last March.
Enrique "Kike" Plancarte, one of the head honchos of the Knights Templar drug cartel, was also killed in March 2014 and Dionisio Plancarte, a key leader of the criminal group, was detained last month.
Mexican President Enrique Pena Nieto has pledged to get rid of gang violence that has claimed about 80,000 lives in the country since 2007. However, the steady stream of killings has continued unabated.
According to official data, since December 2012, 1,000 people have died every month in violence linked to drug cartels.
The Mexican army is still fighting drug gangs across large parts of the country. The government says it has a database of 26,000 missing people in connection with drug-related violence.
IA/KA/SS
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