Updated Tuesday, July 16th 2013 at 16:21 GMT +3
Mexican marines have captured one of the world's most notorious drug-gang leaders in a raid near the US border.
Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, 40, head of the brutal Zetas cartel, was intercepted with two lieutenants in a pick-up truck near Nuevo Laredo.
Mexican officials said he had eight guns and $2m (£1.3m) in cash.
Trevino
Morales, infamous for his brutality, was wanted on both sides of the
border for ordering massacres and running drugs on a global scale.
He took control of the Zetas following the death of group founder Heriberto Lazcano in October 2012.
His capture is the highest-profile arrest since President Enrique Pena Nieto came to office last December.
Mr
Pena Nieto promised to change the policy of the previous government by
tackling the cartels through law enforcement on a local level rather
than the capture of big-name targets.
Ex-President Felipe Calderon had deployed the army across the country and pursued the leaders of the cartels.
Although the policy eliminated many senior criminal figures, it also created power vacuums that helped fuel the violence.
Fall of the Zetas
Trevino Morales, known as "Zeta-40", was captured outside Nuevo Laredo, near the US border at dawn on Monday, government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told a news conference.
"Three
people in the truck were detained by ground troops, who had arrived to
support the naval forces, who had carried out the detention via the
helicopter. Not a single shot was fired," he said.
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