Mexico drug lord dies from heart attack in jail

Mexican drug boss Hector Manuel Beltran Leyva – once one of Mexico’s most-wanted men – has died after suffering a heart attack in jail.

The Interior Ministry said Beltran Leyva, 56, was transported to a hospital in the central city of Toluca on Sunday after complaining of chest pains, but that doctors were unable to save him.

Mr Leyva received the necessary medical attention, with prison personnel doing everything in their capacity to revive him, the ministry said.

The cartel chief was arrested in 2014 in San Miguel de Allende, but had eluded an extradition request from the US. The family-run Beltran Leyva cartel was once a leading player in Mexican drug trafficking, with control of the US border region in Sonora.