[June 04, 2011] Mexican police capture regional leader of violent drug cartel Tweet Mexico City, Jun 4, 2011 (EFE via COMTEX) -- Mexican Federal Police officers captured the suspected leader of the Los Zetas drug cartel in the southeastern state of Quintana Roo, federal authorities said Saturday. Thursday's arrest of Victor Manuel Perez Izquierdo, 30, in the resort city of Cancun stemmed from investigations carried out following the capture of 10 Zetas members on May 28 in that Caribbean state, the Public Safety Secretariat said in a statement. The suspect came upon a Federal Police checkpoint set up at the intersection of Cancun-Kantunil and Chichen Itza Avenues; when the officers motioned for the car to stop, the "visibly armed" suspect tried to speed away, the secretariat said. The officers pursued Perez Izquierdo and captured him several blocks away in the possession of an AR-15 assault rifle, an ammunition clip, 21 rounds of ammunition, 100 packages containing cocaine and 32 with marijuana, 7 cellular phones, a scale and a bill-counting machine. Authorities accuse Perez Izquierdo of planning kidnappings and murders of innocent civilians and members of rival drug gangs, "as well as coordinating drug sales and extortion" activities. The suspect was taken to Mexico City and turned over to the federal Attorney General's Office's Siedo organized-crime unit. Heriberto Lazcano Lazcano, known as "El Lazca," deserted from the Mexican army in 1999 and formed Los Zetas with three other soldiers, all members of an elite special operations unit, becoming the armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel. After several years on the payroll of the Gulf cartel, Los Zetas, considered Mexico's most violent criminal organization, went into the drug business on their own account and now control several lucrative territories. The Zetas and the Gulf mob - now fierce rivals - have fought a brutal turf war in northeastern Mexico. A total of 15,270 people died in drug-related violence in Mexico last year, and nearly 40,000 people have died since President Felipe Calderon militarized the struggle against the country's cartels shortly after taking office in December 2006. Calderon has deployed tens of thousands of soldiers and Federal Police officers across the country to combat drug cartels and other criminal organizations. EFE jd/mc [ Back To TMCnet.com's Homepage ]