The Mexican Navy said they have captured one of Mexico’s most wanted drug bosses. Jorge Costilla, better known as “El Coss,” is head of the Gulf Cartel. This is a major victory in the fight against organize crime in Mexico. Click below to read more.
MEXICO CITY (Reuters) – The Mexican Navy said on Wednesday it had captured one of Mexico’s most wanted drug bosses, the head of the Gulf Cartel, in what would mark a major victory in President Felipe Calderon’s crackdown on organized crime.
The Navy said it would give more details about the arrest of the man it believed to be Jorge Costilla, alias “El Coss,” when it parades him in front of the media early on Thursday.
A government security official said Costilla, 41, was detained in Tampico in north-eastern Mexico, where the cartel is active, without putting up a fight. The U.S. State Department has a reward of up to $5 million for his capture.
No other details were immediately available.
The arrest of the suspected capo comes barely a week after the Mexican Navy captured senior Gulf Cartel member Mario Cardenas, alias “Fatso,” also in the state of Tamaulipas where Costilla was caught.
The Gulf Cartel has been weakened by a violent turf war with the Zetas, a gang formed by army deserters which acted as enforcers for the cartel before breaking with their employers in 2010.
It could also have political implications because top officials in the cartel’s stronghold of Tamaulipas have been accused of taking money from local drug gangs.
“All these politicians who were getting money from the Gulf Cartel ought to be very worried now because this information is going to come to light in Mexico or the United States,” said Alberto Islas, a security expert at consultancy Risk Evaluation, after hearing the reports of Costilla’s capture.
Costilla features prominently on a wanted list of 37 kingpins the Mexican government published in 2009. Well over 20 on that list have now been captured or killed.
Still, the Mexican Navy has erred before in its claims, saying in June it had captured a son of Mexico’s most wanted man Joaquin “Shorty” Guzman, only to later admit that it had not.
DAMAGING REVELATIONS
Islas said he expected Costilla to be extradited to the United States, and that his testimony could prove damaging to officials in Tamaulipas and neighbouring Veracruz state, which has also been dogged by allegations of corruption.
