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The leader of Mexico's most brutal cartel has been arrested
(REUTERS/Edgard Garrido) Omar Trevino Morales (2nd R), known as the Z-42 leader of the Zetas drug cartel, is escorted by soldiers during a media conference on his arrest in Mexico City March 4, 2015. One of Mexico's most wanted drug lords was reportedly captured Wednesday in Mexico, according to the Mexican newspaper El Informador.
Omar Treviño Morales, 41, was arrested at about 4 a.m. Wednesday morning in Pedro Garza García, Nuevo León, Mexico, by Mexican special forces.
Better known by his alias "Z42," Morales is wanted by Mexican and US authorities in connection to crimes relating to drug trafficking, kidnapping, homicide, and extortion.
After his brother ( former drug lord Miguel Treviño Morales, aka "Z40") was arrested in July 2013, Morales took over as leader of Los Zetas, which is considered by the US State Department to be one of the most dangerous drug organizations in Mexico.
The group — created by former Mexican commandos — is notorious for its barbaric tactics such as beheadings and "a June 6, 2010, torture/mass murder where six victims were found in a Cancun cave with their hearts cut out and 'Z' carved in their abdomens."
Los Zetas is a breakaway faction of the Mexican Gulf Cartel, which was founded in the late 1990s by former members of the Mexican army, according to CNN Mexico. It is the largest drug cartel in Mexico, operating in more than half the country as of 2011.
Both the Mexican government and the DEA have offered monetary rewards for information leading to his arrest, amounting to $30 million and $5 million, respectively.
Last week Mexican authorities captured Servando "La Tuta" Gomez, head of another prominent Mexican drug cartel known as the Knights Templar.
Mexican President Enrique Pe ñ a Nieto vowed to crack down on drug-trafficking organizations and their leaders after the suspected mass kidnapping and killing of 43 Mexican students and teachers by corrupt police officers in league with gang members last year.
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