MEXICO: The alleged financial chief of the brutal Gulf cartel is arrested in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. He was previously arrested in 1998 but escaped in 2002

Record ID: 302534

  • Title: MEXICO: The alleged financial chief of the brutal Gulf cartel is arrested in the Mexican state of Tamaulipas. He was previously arrested in 1998 but escaped in 2002
  • Date: 14th September 2011
  • Summary: MEXICO CITY, MEXICO (SEPTEMBER 12, 2011) (REUTERS) GENERAL VIEW OF NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Spanish) NAVY SPOKESMAN JOSE LUIS VERGARA, SAYING: "On September 10 of the present month, Manuel Alquisires Garcia, also known as "El Meme" and/or Agustin Sanchez Morua was arrested. He is the alleged financial operator of the criminal group Gulf cartel." CAMERA CREWS DURING
  • Embargoed: 29th September 2011 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Mexico, Mexico
  • Country: Mexico
  • Topics: Crime
  • Reuters ID: LVA632OO99PI95KTDLONV48JAK7H
  • Story Text: The Mexican navy on Monday (September 12) announced the arrest of the alleged financial operator of the Gulf cartel, who had escaped from a prison in the northern state of Tamaulipas at the end of 2002, Manuel Alquisires Garcia, also known "El Meme," was captured on Saturday (September 10) after a shootout with the navy while he hid in a house in a residential area in Tampico, Tamaulipas, a state which borders the United States.
    "On September 10 of the present month, Manuel Alquisires Garcia, also known as "El Meme" and/or Agustin Sanchez Morua was arrested. He is the alleged financial operator of the criminal group Gulf cartel," said navy spokesman Jose Luis Vergara.
    According to authorities, Garcia had been identified as the financial chief of the Gulf cartel, whose former leader Osiel Cardenas, was extradited to the United States in January 2007.
    Garcia was arrested in 1998 but was rescued by an armed commando, allegedly by the "Zetas," the then armed wing of the Gulf cartel, from jail at the end of 2002.
    "It's worth remembering Garcia was arrested on June 4, 1998, together with Osiel Cardenas Guillen and Salvador Gomez Herrera. Later he was jailed in Santa Adelaida, Matamoros, Tamaulipas for his alleged responsibility for crimes against health and operations carried out with illicit funds but on December 27, 2002 he was rescued by an armed commando of Los Zetas which at the time, was the armed wing of the mentioned cartel," Vergara added.
    After the extradition of Osiel Cardenas, his brother Antonio Ezequiel "Tony Tormenta" Cardenas, took over as the lead of the cartel but died at the beginning of November 2010 after a shootout with security forces.
    It is believed Eduardo "El Coss" Costilla Sanchez, who shared the leadership of the Gulf cartel with "Tony Tormenta," took the lead of the group.
    The group are now enemies of the "Zetas" drug gang which separated from the Gulf cartel in 2010. The two groups are involved in a a bitter fight for drugs smuggling routes.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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