Mexico has arrested a high-ranking underworld figure with a $5 million bounty on his head who was wanted for crimes including drug trafficking and defrauding American pensioners.
According to authorities, Audias Flores Silva is a member of the Jalisco Nueva Generacion cartel, one of the most powerful criminal organizations in Mexico, which oversaw operations in states along the Pacific coast.
The US State Department offered a reward for his capture after he was identified as the cartel’s regional commander. He was captured in an operation by the Mexican Navy, the country’s security minister said on social media on Monday.
Earlier this year, in the area where Flores Silva operated, authorities arrested the mayor of Tequila in connection with a racketeering racket that included an attempt to shake down Becle, the world’s oldest tequila maker. He was accused of committing crimes in collaboration with the cartel.
The United States also charged Flores Silva with running a timeshare scam that robbed elderly US citizens of their savings. Nicknamed “The Gardener,” authorities suspect him of being the successor to Nemesio Oseguero Cervantes, the leader of the cartel known as “El Mencho,” who was killed in a major Mexican operation in February.
Monday’s arrest “marks an important step against those who profit from fentanyl and incite violence in our communities. Such actions are necessary to ensure that those who traffick the drug are held accountable,” US Ambassador Ronald Johnson wrote in a post on X.
According to outlet N, businesses were torched in parts of Nayarit state following the arrests.
Mexican authorities located Flores Silva in a cabin in Nayarit, where his security protocol included more than 60 armed members, according to a joint statement from Mexico’s security, navy and defense ministries. The operation against him involved 120 soldiers and another 400 naval personnel in support roles, as well as helicopters and aircraft.
With help from Amy Stillman.
This article was generated from an automated news agency source without text modification.
