Zetas, Gulf drug cartel members arrested in northern Mexico state

MEXICO CITY – A Mexican security official says two alleged top members of the Zetas and Gulf drug cartels have been arrested through government efforts to quell violence in the border state of Tamaulipas.

Federal police chief Monte Alejandro Rubido says those detained are among cartel members believed responsible for a surge of bloodshed in the Mexican state across from Texas.

Rubido said Wednesday that federal police arrested alleged Gulf drug cartel leader Juan Manuel Rodriguez Rodriguez Tuesday in Reynosa. He said Rodriguez Rodriguez took over that cartel’s leadership in August.

Rubido says Mexican marines arrested alleged Zetas leader Ricardo Ivan Santillan Trejo on Monday in Ciudad Mante. He says Santillan Trejo assumed the Zetas leadership in the area after the previous leader’s 2011 arrest following the massacre of 72 Central American migrants.

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