Capture of Carlos Beltran Leyva is another blow to Mexico’s most violent drug-smuggling gang
Mexican federal police Saturday announced the capture of Carlos Beltran Leyva, an alleged major drug trafficker whose brother, cartel leader Arturo Beltran Leyva, was killed in a shootout with Mexican marines last month.
The capture of Carlos Beltran Leyva is a potentially significant gain for authorities because of the intelligence he could provide and because it further weakens one of Mexico’s leading and most violent drug-smuggling organizations.
Beltran Leyva was captured Wednesday in Culiacan, capital of Sinaloa state, which is an illicit drug center and birthplace of the Beltran Leyvas, along with many of Mexico’s top traffickers. Police said he was located through “intelligence work” but did not provide details. He presented a false driver’s license when confronted, police said, but eventually acknowledged his true identity.
Beltran Leyva was reportedly discovered in one of the high-walled neighborhoods where the super-rich live and was immediately transferred to Mexico City.
Things turned out very differently for his brother Arturo, the reputed leader of the cartel founded by the five Beltran Leyva brothers. On Dec. 16, Arturo Beltran Leyva was killed along with six of his bodyguards in a fierce shootout with Mexican marines in the town of Cuernavaca, just south of Mexico City. Beltran Leyva and his crew were tracked to a luxury apartment tower where they were cornered.
One marine was also killed in the raid. In a chilling coda to the episode, gunmen thought to be working for the Beltran Leyva gang executed the dead marine’s mother, two siblings and aunt in an act of revenge that outraged the country.
On Saturday, authorities said they had arrested a purported member of the Zetas gang allied with the Beltran Leyva cartel who confessed to killing the marine’s family.
In the arrest of Carlos Beltran Leyva, police said they confiscated two guns, ammunition and cocaine.
Since Arturo Beltran Leyva’s death, speculation has centered on whether there would be a violent power struggle within the organization.
Once allies with the powerful Sinaloa cartel led by Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the Beltran Leyva group broke off ties last year and has been locked in a ferocious territorial war since. Arturo Beltran Leyva held Guzman responsible for a tip that led authorities to the capture of another brother, Alfredo, in January 2008.
Authorities say the Beltran Leyva organization has been responsible for numerous killings and bought off top government officials who alerted traffickers ahead of military raids.
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