Mexican officials said Sunday they had caught a member of one of the nation's mighty drug trafficking groups, just after President Ernesto Zedillo vowed to step up the fight against the illegal trade.
The Federal Attorney General's Office said in a statement Sunday it had captured Adan Amezcua of the Amezcua brothers group from Guadalajara.Amezcua's arrest follows months of drug lords eluding Mexican police and scandals within the police force of corroboration with the powerful drugpins.
The office said the brothers are known methamphetamines and ephedrine traffickers.
Adan Amezcua had a .38-caliber pistol when he was arrested in a military operation in the northern state of Colima, the statement said. It did not provide futher details about the arrest.
"Upon being interrogated, he admitted to belonging to the Amez-cua brothers criminal organization," the statement said.
Mexico's last drug lord arrest was in February, just hours before Washington was due to certify whether the country was collaborating in the war on illegal narcotics.
The arrest was of the acting head of the Gulf of Matamoros drugs cartel, Oscar Malherbe Leon.
Mexico's former drug czar, Gen. Jesus Gutierrez Rebollo, accused Zedillo's family earlier this year of being tied to the Amezcua brothers. Gutierrez Rebollo was arrested on Feb. 6 on charges of accepting bribes from top drug lords.
Zedillo was in Washington last week in talks with President Clinton. One of the key points was how to boost the fight against drug trafficking.