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| Mexico arrests Zetas cartel leader Omar Trevino Morales | Mexico arrests Zetas cartel leader Omar Trevino Morales |
| (about 1 hour later) | |
| Omar Trevino Morales, leader of the notorious Zetas drugs cartel in Mexico, has been captured by security forces. | Omar Trevino Morales, leader of the notorious Zetas drugs cartel in Mexico, has been captured by security forces. |
| He was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday in the city of Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, police said. | He was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday in the city of Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, police said. |
| He is believed to have run the Zetas cartel since the capture of his brother, Miguel Angel, in 2013. | He is believed to have run the Zetas cartel since the capture of his brother, Miguel Angel, in 2013. |
| The arrest comes days after Mexican police captured another suspected drug lord, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez. | The arrest comes days after Mexican police captured another suspected drug lord, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez. |
| Servando Gomez was the leader of the Knights Templar cartel in Michoacan state. | Servando Gomez was the leader of the Knights Templar cartel in Michoacan state. |
| Heavy security | Heavy security |
| Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-42 and believed to be 40 or 41 years old, is wanted in the US and Mexico on charges of drug trafficking, kidnap and murder. | |
| The Mexican government had a 30m peso (£1.3m; $2m) reward for his capture while the US offered a $5m (£3.2m) reward. | The Mexican government had a 30m peso (£1.3m; $2m) reward for his capture while the US offered a $5m (£3.2m) reward. |
| Mexican media, citing officials, said he had been seized in the Monterrey suburb of San Pedro Garza Garcia in a joint operation by the army and the federal police. | Mexican media, citing officials, said he had been seized in the Monterrey suburb of San Pedro Garza Garcia in a joint operation by the army and the federal police. |
| He was arrested in a luxury home without a shot being fired, local media said. | |
| Neighbours told El Universal newspaper the house had been bought about half a year ago by a family "which kept themselves to themselves and did not mingle with other neighbours". | |
| He is being transferred under heavy security to Mexico City, reports said. | He is being transferred under heavy security to Mexico City, reports said. |
| Brutal cartel | Brutal cartel |
| The Zetas were created in the 1990s as the enforcement arm of another powerful criminal gang, the Gulf Cartel. | The Zetas were created in the 1990s as the enforcement arm of another powerful criminal gang, the Gulf Cartel. |
| They were made up of defectors from an elite military unit and quickly became known for their brutality. | They were made up of defectors from an elite military unit and quickly became known for their brutality. |
| When they split from their former Gulf cartel allies, a violent turf war ensued. | |
| Decapitations and dangling of bodies from motorway bridges became a particular trade mark of the gang, which sought to intimidate its rivals by using particularly gruesome tactics. | |
| Among the notorious crimes attributed to the cartel are the 2011 arson attack on a Monterrey casino in which 52 people died and the torture and murder in 2010 of 72 Central American migrants as punishment for their refusal to act as drugs mules. | |
| The cartel was weakened by the killing of former leader Heriberto Lazcano in 2012 and the capture of Miguel Angel Trevino Morales in 2013. | |
| But according to analysts from the US-based think tank Stratfor, it had recently been expanding its territory again. | |
| The cartel is most active in the north-eastern states on the border with the United States, including Coahuila, Tamaulipas and Nuevo Leon. | |
| With the Gulf cartel losing ground, the Zetas are believed to have had less need for violence and instead concentrated more on extortion and drug trafficking. | |
| Servando Gomez's arrest less than a week ago was also made without a shot being fired. | |
| He was then paraded before television cameras before being flown by helicopter to a maximum security prison. | |
| President Enrique Pena Nieto wrote on Twitter that the rule of law had been strengthened by the arrest. |