Police in Mexico said Monday they had arrested a top lieutenant in the violent Metro faction of the Gulf drug cartel, which has been linked to 23 attacks on police and nine attacks on military personnel. The suspect was identified as Hugo Salinas Cortinas, nicknamed “La Cabra” meaning “the goat.”
Police and the Mexican army said he was arrested on Friday, but offered no explanation for the delay in making the announcement.
Police said Salinas Cortinas was seized with two guns and 600 pills, apparently fentanyl. He allegedly led drug and immigrant smuggling through the Mexican side of the Rio Grande River, also known as the Rio Bravo.
He allegedly operated in an area comprised of the towns of Camargo and Miguel Aleman across the border from Rio Grande City and Roma, Texas.
Local media reported that a woman identified as his wife in 2021 was arrested in Roma, Texas, after police found more than $800,000 hidden in shoe boxes and backpacks at his home.
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The Gulf cartel has been divided into warring factions for a decade after some of its top leaders were arrested and extradited.
The arrest comes weeks after Miguel Villarreal’s brother, aka “Gringo Mike,” became the boss of the former Gulf Cartel Plaza. punished Houston was sentenced to 180 months in prison for his role in the distribution of cocaine.
One of Mexico’s oldest organized crime groups, the Gulf Cartel is based in the city of Matamoros, directly across from the US border in Brownsville, Texas. The cartels have been losing strength in recent years as rivals and internal gangs battle for control of drug-trafficking routes into the United States along the border.
The Scorpions group of the Gulf cartel is alleged to be responsible for the recent kidnappings Four Americans And both of them died.
Kara Tabachnik contributed to this report.
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