TIJUANA, Mexico (AP) – Mexico has captured a kingpin accused of terrorizing his way to the top of a gang fighting for control of key U.S. drug routes – even ordering rivals dissolved in caustic soda. Tuesday’s arrest, announced by U.S. and Mexican officials, capped a series of victories in Mexico’s U.S.-backed war on narcotics.
Teodoro Garcia Simental, known as “El Teo,” was arrested before dawn at a home he owned in the city of La Paz on the Baja California peninsula, said Mexican federal police commissioner Ramon Eduardo Pequeno.
Mexican authorities had been tracking him for more than six months, with the help of U.S. anti-drug officials, he said.
Federal police marched the frowning, heavyset Garcia in front of cameras at a news conference in Mexico City on Tuesday afternoon. Police displayed about a dozen seized handguns, along with several laptop computers and bundles of cash.
Garcia – one of Mexico’s most wanted drug traffickers – is the second kingpin to be taken down in less than a month by President Felipe Calderon’s government.