Mexican federal police on Friday captured Jaime "The Hummer" Gonzalez, a leader of the armed wing of the Gulf drug cartel, and flew him to the capital after a shootout near the U.S.-Mexican border, police said.Gonzalez, a deserter from the Mexican army and a founding member of the drug gang's feared execution squad known as the Zetas, was caught in the city of Reynosa near McAllen, Texas in a carefully planned police operation.Security forces burst in on Gonzalez in a house and nabbed him without firing a shot, police said.But a group of armed men brazenly tried to free him from police custody near the Reynosa airport.After a lengthy gun battle, police fought off the attackers and transferred Gonzalez to the capital under heavily armed guard.
Officials distributed images of a gold-plated gun and bundles of cash they said belonged to Gonzalez, who is also wanted in the United States for drug trafficking.It is the latest in a string of high-profile drug arrests since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and deployed thousands of troops and federal police to drug hot spots around the country.On Thursday, the army captured a massive arsenal of weapons believed to belong to the Gulf cartel that included over 400 pistols, machine guns and sniper rifles, half a million bullets, nearly 300 grenades, a rocket launcher and explosives.
Officials distributed images of a gold-plated gun and bundles of cash they said belonged to Gonzalez, who is also wanted in the United States for drug trafficking.It is the latest in a string of high-profile drug arrests since President Felipe Calderon took office in 2006 and deployed thousands of troops and federal police to drug hot spots around the country.On Thursday, the army captured a massive arsenal of weapons believed to belong to the Gulf cartel that included over 400 pistols, machine guns and sniper rifles, half a million bullets, nearly 300 grenades, a rocket launcher and explosives.