Mexico arrests Zetas cartel leader Omar Trevino Morales

OMAR Trevino Morales, leader of the notorious Zetas drugs cartel in Mexico, has been captured by security forces.

He was arrested in the early hours of Wednesday in the city of Monterrey in the northern state of Nuevo Leon, police said.

He is believed to have run the Zetas cartel since the capture of his brother, Miguel Angel, in 2013.

The arrest comes days after Mexican police captured another suspected drug lord, Servando “La Tuta” Gomez.

Servando Gomez was the leader of the Knights Templar cartel in Michoacan state.

Omar Trevino Morales, known as Z-42 and believed to be 40 or 41 years old, is wanted in the US and Mexico on charges of drug trafficking, kidnap and murder.

The Mexican government had a 30m peso (£1.3m; $2m) reward for his capture while the US offered a $5m (£3.2m) reward.

Mexican media, citing officials, said he had been seized in the Monterrey suburb of San Pedro Garza Garcia in a joint operation by the army and the federal police.

He was arrested in a luxury home without a shot being fired, local media said.

Neighbours told El Universal newspaper the house had been bought about six months ago by a family “which kept themselves to themselves and did not mingle with other neighbours”.

He has been transferred under heavy security to Mexico City and paraded before television cameras.

National Security Commission Director Monte Alejandro Rubido Garcia said intelligence gatherings since the capture of Omar Trevino’s brother led to his arrest.

“For the past few years, he’s been one of the country’s most-wanted delinquents, with an extremely violent profile,” said Mr Rubido.