Mexican authorities have arrested the alleged leader of a drug cartel suspected of involvement in the March kidnapping of four Americans, two of whom were killed, local media reported Friday.
The man is considered one of the “primary targets” of the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and is one of the “main leaders of one of the most established criminal organizations in the state of Tamaulipas (Northeast),” the Mexican Navy said in a statement on Thursday evening, without to reveal his identity.
On Friday, the man was identified – without official confirmation – in the local press under the name José Alberto García Vilano and the pseudonym “La Kena”. According to Mexican media, he is linked to one of the most dangerous factions of the Gulf Cartel (CDG) and is involved in the kidnapping of four Americans.
Her abduction occurred on March 3 in the border city of Matamoros, Tamaulipas state. The four Americans had crossed the U.S.-Mexico border behind the wheel of a white minivan registered in North Carolina before they were shot at and kidnapped by gunmen in Matamoros.
Of the four Americans kidnapped, two died and two were later found, one shot and the other uninjured, on the outskirts of Matamoros. A Mexican passerby was also killed in the exchange of fire.
After the kidnapping, the Gulf Cartel sent a letter to authorities in which the criminal organization accused the kidnappers of acting without authorization from their leaders.
According to videos broadcast by Mexican media, Mr. Garcia Vilano was arrested while shopping at a luxury mall in the city of Monterrey in the northeastern Mexican state of Nuevo León.
The state of Tamaulipas, home to the border city of Matamoros through which the four Americans passed when they arrived in Mexico, is one of the states hardest hit by drug trafficking.
The roads in this region are considered the most dangerous in Mexico due to the risk of kidnapping and extortion by criminal groups.