Severe blow to the powerful Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel. The special forces of the Mexican Navy have captured Audias Flores Silva, a narco known as “El Jardinero” considered one of the possible successors of Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho”, former leader of the drug trafficking group who died in February after being wounded by the army.
The heir of “El Mencho”
Flores Silva, “right-hand man” of the late boss, was identified and blocked in the state of Nayarit. The United States is offering a $5 million reward for his arrest and is demanding his extradition. According to investigators, he controlled methamphetamine laboratories in the states of Jalisco and Zacatecas.
For Insight Crime he was among the possible heirs of the cartel’s founder.
It was hidden in a vent
As explained by Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch, the blitz which took place on Monday 27 April was planned and executed by the special forces of the Mexican Navy. After 19 months of surveillance and an exchange of information with US agencies, over 500 soldiers and four helicopters surrounded a house protected by around 60 armed men and around thirty pick-ups. The capture occurred without firing a shot: Flores Silva was found while trying to hide in an evacuation duct.
“R9” also arrested
On the same day, Mexican authorities also arrested Alexander Benavides Flores, alias “R9”, identified in the north-eastern state of Tamaulipas and indicated by local media as the leader of Los Metros, a faction born from the Gulf Cartel. His arrest caused at least eight road blocks in Reynosa, a city of 690,000 inhabitants on the border with Texas. Authorities then regained control of the streets without reporting any casualties or other disturbances.