Extortion chief arrested in upscale Mexico City neighbourhood

MEXICO CITY – An alleged leader of a criminal group that sells drugs and demands protection fees from bars and restaurants in some of the trendiest neighbourhoods of the Mexican capital has been arrested.

The attorney general’s office for Mexico City said Saturday that the 26-year-old oversaw distribution of narcotics in the centrally located Roma, Condesa and Polanco neighbourhoods, and that he is also implicated in the murder of three men whose bodies were found burned inside a car on the south side of the metropolis.

He was detained in Polanco. Authorities did not provide his name.

Violence is on the rise in the Mexican capital, with two men shot dead last week in the Condesa neighbourhood in an apparent dispute over the sale of fake drugs.