Jesus Zambada Garcia is captured after a gun battle in Mexico City. He commanded one of four branches of the Sinaloa cartel, officials say.
Mexican authorities said that they arrested a leading drug figure known as El Rey after a shootout in Mexico City.
Jesus Zambada Garcia, the brother of a suspected drug kingpin in the western state of Sinaloa, was among 16 people captured Monday, Atty. Gen. Eduardo Medina Mora said.
The attorney general said Zambada, whose nickname means "the king," commanded one of four branches of the so-called Sinaloa cartel, leading its operations in central Mexico. Zambada is the brother of Ismael Zambada and an associate of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, the most-wanted trafficker in Mexico, officials said.
Jesus Zambada controlled smuggling of cocaine and chemical ingredients for the production of methamphetamine through Mexico City's airport, Medina Mora said. Authorities have focused attention on drug smugglers' use of the country's largest airport.
Zambada has also been linked to gruesome drug killings in central and western Mexico, prosecutors said."The arrest of Jesus Zambada Garcia, the King, stands out, without a doubt, as one of the most significant by President [Felipe] Calderon's government to date," Medina Mora told reporters. "It is not the only one in recent months, nor will it be the last in the months to come."
Investigators are looking into Zambada's possible role in the assassination of acting federal Police Chief Edgar Millan Gomez. The police commander was ambushed in May by a gunman in his Mexico City home, and authorities have long suspected that Sinaloa cartel traffickers were behind the slaying.
Marisela Morales, who runs the organized-crime unit of the attorney general's office, called Zambada "one of the most important" smugglers of cocaine and methamphetamines into Mexico.
Zambada's arrest offered officials a much-needed chance to claim progress in their uphill battle against drug traffickers. Calderon declared a crackdown nearly two years ago, but drug-related violence has worsened despite some high-profile arrests and hefty drug seizures.
A grenade attack that killed eight civilians in the western state of Michoacan fed an increasing sense among Mexicans that their government is losing its war with well-armed drug gangs.In Monday's incident, police came under fire after being led to a house in northern Mexico City by a resident's tip. Police rounded up the 16 suspects but were not able to immediately confirm Zambada's identity, Morales said.
Prosecutors said Zambada's 21-year-old son, Jesus Zambada Reyes, and a nephew were among those arrested. On Wednesday, authorities lined up suspects and their seized weapons before news cameras, and police searched the house where the shootout took place.
Mexican officials are eager for the release of a $400-million package of U.S. training and equipment, known as the Merida Initiative.
How many of children does he have? He had a son named Jesus Zambada Reyes who killed himself in November 2009. He has a stepson who was also arrested in October 2008. From what I read in the other source he was going to shoot Zambada Reyes while being surrounded by federal authorities in his house. They were wanting to get their support from the policeman or chief named Edgar who never came. Zambada Reyes grabbed the gun off his father to prevent from being shot, but now he no longer lived anymore. The young man was going through a very, very hard time of his life when he agreed to become a program witness after his arrest. Being in the centre of his Zambada family members (for those one who dealt with drugs, money and weapons) and federal authorities, he chose to end his life so he won't have to go through with his affected emotionals anymore. God bless Zambada Reyes. My heart go to his mother and whanau.
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