An alleged cell leader for the Arellano Félix Organization, a Baja California-based drug cartel, has been arrested in the southeastern Mexican state of Yucatán, officials said.
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The arrest of Héctor Manuel Gil García, also known as El Kado, was first announced Thursday by Mexican Secretary of Security and Citizen Protection Omar García Harfuch in a social media post, saying it was made possible through an exchange of information with U.S. agencies. He referred to Gil García as a “priority target.”
Although he did not name the criminal organization, García Harfuch said Gil García was a leader of a group “responsible for coordinating drug trafficking operations to the United States, as well as carrying out extortion, homicides, and other violent acts in Baja California.”
Several Mexican news outlets have reported that Gil García is believed to be a leader of an Arellano Félix Organization cell. On Friday, Baja California authorities confirmed to the Union-Tribune that Gil García is allegedly part of that criminal group.
During Mexican President Claudia Sheinbaum’s daily press conference on Friday, García Harfuch said that Gil García lived and ran operations from Quintana Roo, a Mexican state located about 2,000 miles away from Baja California.
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The country’s top security official added that the suspect was arrested during a federal operation in Valladolid, a municipality in Yucatán, which borders Quintana Roo, as a result of surveillance and tracking efforts.
The arrest operation was carried out by members of the Mexican Navy Secretariat, Mexico’s Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection, the Attorney General’s Office and the National Intelligence Center.
It was not immediately clear if Gil García faces charges in the U.S. The U.S. Attorney’s Office in San Diego, which has been the primary prosecuting office for Arellano Felix cartel cases in the U.S., declined to comment Friday.
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