BajaNomad

Mexico detains brother of slain drug boss

BajaNews - 1-2-2010 at 09:55 PM

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSTRE60208G20100103

by Cyntia Barrera Diaz
Jan 2, 2010

MEXICO CITY (Reuters) - Mexican forces have detained the brother of a powerful drug boss killed two weeks ago in a movie-like raid that landed a key victory for President Felipe Calderon's drug war, the security ministry said on Saturday.

Carlos Beltran Leyva, 40, was detained in the northern state of Sinaloa on Wednesday but the ministry gave no details as to why the announcement was made three days later.

Beltran Leyva is one of five brothers who allegedly ran one of Mexico's most powerful drug organizations, notorious for their grisly killings and for moving big shipments of marijuana and cocaine into the United States.

A source from the ministry told Reuters that Beltran Leyva had been transported to Mexico City.

His brother Arturo was killed in a navy-led operation on December 17 in central Mexico. Another member of the drug family, Alfredo, was captured and jailed in 2008.

Despite the deployment of 49,000 troops across Mexico, broad daylight shootings are common and killings by drug gangs sore to an unprecedented 7,000 last year alone.


http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/americas/01/02/mexico.drug...

(CNN) -- The head of the Beltran Levya drug cartel has been captured, Mexican federal police announced Saturday.

Carlos Beltran Leyva was arrested Wednesday in the northwest city of Culiacan after showing a fake license with the alias "Carlos Gamez," which authorities knew to look for, police said, according to Mexico's semi-official Notimex news agency.

The arrest came just two weeks after the drug boss' brother, Arturo Beltran Leyva -- known as "El Barbas" or "The Bearded One" -- was killed in a shootout in Cuernavaca, outside Mexico City.