Top Jalisco cartel leader ‘El Jardinero’ arrested in Mexico
Key takeaways
- Flores’ escorts scattered as a diversion, but he was located as he tried to hide in a drainage ditch, it added.
- “The operation was carried out with surgical precision without a single shot being fired,” the Navy said in a statement.
- The Navy also used intelligence provided by U.S. authorities in the successful capture, including aerial surveillance, according to a Mexican security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.
Why this matters: local context for readers following news across Pakistan and the region.
MONTERREY: Mexican special forces have arrested Audias Flores, known as “El Jardinero” and one of the top commanders of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), in the western state of Nayarit, security minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Monday.
Flores, a regional commander in control of swathes of CJNG territory along Mexico’s Pacific coast – was considered a potential successor to Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho,” who ran the cartel and was killed in a security operation in February.
Security forces surrounded a cabin in El Mirador, some 20 km (12 miles) north of the popular resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where Flores was being protected by a perimeter of some 30 pickup trucks and over 60 gunmen, according to a press release from Mexico’s Navy, which led the operation.