Mexican drug cartel boss ‘El Mencho’ was tracked and killed by authorities with the help of his girlfriend, AFP reported.
A girlfriend of Nemesio “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, the powerful leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel who was killed by the Mexican military on Sunday, was key to finding him in Tapalpa, the report claimed.
Mexican authorities reportedly followed a romantic partner to El Mencho’s safe house near a picturesque mountain town.
The ‘romantic partner’
The operation was launched when Mexican military intelligence agents, supported by the US military’s Northern Command, learned that the woman in question planned to rendezvous with the drug lord in Tapalpa, some 130 kilometers from Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state.
Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla said at a press conference Monday that the woman, “one of the romantic partners of ‘El Mencho,'” was brought to a house in Tapalpa by a trusted associate.
On Saturday, she met with Oseguera and then left, leaving Oseguera in the house with his security detail, Trevilla explained, as per AFP.
The National Guard’s Special Immediate Reaction Force blueprinted the operation for the assault on Sunday with both land and air maneuvers.
The soldiers approached the area without entering Jalisco “to keep the secret and thus retain the element of surprise,” Trevilla said.
Once they confirmed the presence of Oseguera, who was wanted for organized crime and weapons possession, they decided to raid the ranch.
The violence
“Honestly, it was a pretty violent attack,” Mexican Defense Secretary Ricardo Trevilla was quoted as saying on Monday. He specified that Oseguera was apprehended in possession of an arsenal that included assault weapons and two rocket launchers.
The cartel leader and two bodyguards fled into a wooded area where they were seriously wounded in a firefight. They were taken into custody and died on the way to Mexico City, Trevilla said.
In a different location in Jalisco, soldiers killed another high-ranking cartel member who Trevilla said was coordinating violence and offering more than $1,000 for every soldier killed.
The 59-year-old cartel leader, whose real name is Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, died after a shootout with the Mexican military.
The dead included 25 members of the Mexican National Guard who were killed in six separate attacks, Security Secretary Omar García Harfuch said.
As the threat of more violence loomed, several Mexican states canceled school Monday, while local and foreign governments warned their citizens to stay inside.
The White House confirmed that the US provided intelligence support to the operation to capture the cartel leader and applauded Mexico’s army for taking down a man who was one of the most wanted criminals in both countries.
Mexico hoped the death of the world’s biggest fentanyl traffickers would ease Trump administration pressure to do more against the cartels, but many people were anxious as they waited to see the powerful cartel’s reaction.
(With inputs from agencies, AP, AFP)
