DRUG LORD WITH $ 5M BOUNTY NABBED IN MEXICO

MEXICO

Authorities said Friday they have arrested Jose Maria Guizar Valencia, the alleged leader of the Zetas drug cartel.

National Security Commissioner Renato Sales identified the suspect only as “Jose Maria,” but a federal official confirmed Guizar Valencia’s last name.

The United States had offered a $5-million reward for his arrest.

The commissioner said the leader was one of the main generators of violence and had directed Zetas’ drug trafficking and other activities in southern Mexico.

Under a Wanted page online, the U.S. Bureau of International Narcotics and Law Enforcement Affairs said Guizar Valencia is “responsible for the importation of thousands of kilograms of cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States on a yearly basis.”

It also said he had taken over territory in neighbouring Guatemala.

“Los Zetas, under the command of Guizar Valencia, have murdered an untold number of Guatemalan civilians during the systematic overtake of the Guatemalan border region with Mexico during recent years,” the bureau said.

It said Guizar Valencia was born in Tulare, Calif.

Formed by deserters of an elite military unit, the Zetas are known for indiscriminate brutality, filling anonymous graves and roadsides with piles of victims’ bodies.