Mexico City---Mexican police captured most-wanted drug lord Servando Gomez on Friday, whose Knights Templar cartel tormented western Michoacan state, smuggled drugs to the United States and illegally shipped iron ore to China.
The man nicknamed "La Tuta" was detained without a shot fired in Morelia, Michoacan's capital, following months of intelligence work, two security officials told AFP.
The 49-year-old former teacher was found in a house in the city, apparently without any bodyguards, in a search of a neighborhood that started at 3:00 am, according to a federal intelligence service official.
Gomez had eluded authorities last year despite a massive manhunt in the mountains of Michoacan with help from a "rural defense" force comprised of former vigilantes who took up arms against the Knights Templar.
With his arrest, the authorities have now taken down the four top leaders of the cult-like cartel, dealing a huge blow to a group that once dominated the agricultural and mining state through murder, kidnappings and extortion.
The capture is a victory for President Enrique Pena Nieto amid falling approval ratings and public anger over his handling of violence in the neighboring state of Guerrero, where 43 students were allegedly killed by a gang in league with local police.
Pena Nieto confirmed the arrest on Twitter, saying it "strengthens the rule of law and we continue marching toward a peaceful Mexico."
While the government has neutralized some of the country's most wanted kingpins since Pena Nieto took office in December 2012, violence continues to afflict Mexico.
Alejandro Hope, a former Mexican intelligence official, told AFP that Gomez's capture was "important in terms of symbolism."
"Capturing him sends an important message. But in practical terms, I'm not sure it is that important" because he was isolated, Hope said.
"His capture should not majorly change the criminal scene," he said, noting that Michoacan is struggling with the emergence of new armed groups and infighting among vigilantes.
- Online videos -
Gomez became the de facto boss after the group's founder, Nazario "El Chayo" Moreno, was killed by marines in March 2014. (Moreno had been wrongly declared dead by officials in 2010).
Unlike the more shadowy gangsters of Mexico's underworld, Gomez was a talkative former school teacher who appeared in online videos and television interviews.
He nurtured a Robin Hood image in his mountain hometown of Arteaga, where residents told AFP journalists during a visit in May 2014 that Gomez threw parties, sent gifts and gave out cash.
His mother owns a ranch there where roosters are bred for cockfights. An ornate family mausoleum, where his father is entombed, lies prominently at the cemetery's entrance. An ex-wife lives in a pink house.
In videos and interviews, he always wore a baseball cap, jeans and a gun holstered to his belt.
Some of his videos ensnared local politicians caught sharing beers or casually chatting with him around a table. A former interim governor was arrested after he appeared in one tape.
Appearing in front of cows or surrounded by masked gunmen, he used videos to rail against his rivals, but claimed that his gang wanted "peace and calm" in Michoacan.
Gomez told Britain's Channel 4 News in a January 2014 interview, that being a teacher was "a very healthy and honest job, but due to my aspirations and my hyperactive nature, it didn't satisfy me."
AFP
