North America: Mexico Captures American Drug Cartel Member

Suspected American Tijuana cartel member Eduardo Morquecho Hernandez was captured by Mexican soldiers on Friday.

The twenty-seven-year-old Santa Ana, California native, also known as “El Lalo,” was arrested in a residential area in the border city of Tijuana, after soldiers received an anonymous tip-off.

Authorities were called to a safe house where they found a small arsenal of weapons, including 21 high-caliber rifles, and almost 700 kilos of marijuana.

The Defense Ministry says the arsenal belonged to the family-run Arellano Felix cartel.

The group has controlled smuggling routes around Tijuana for years, using gruesome torture and executions to hold onto its turf.

The clan’s eldest brother Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix returned to Mexico last year from a U.S. prison.

During his 15-year absence the cartel was run by one of his sisters, but it lost ground to its enemies.

The Arellano Felix cartel intends to remain the top dog in and around Tijuana, and few expect a decrease in the gangland killings.

Over 12 thousand people have been killed in cartel-related violence since December 2006.

(NTDTV)