Gulf Cartel Drug Lord Caught In Mexico

Mexican security forces have caught a top boss of the cocaine-trafficking Gulf Cartel.

Mario Ramirez Trevino, known as X-20 or The Bald One, was arrested in the country's northern Tamaulipas state this weekend.

Ramirez Trevino had been vying to take over the cartel after the arrest of top boss Jorge Eduardo Costilla Sanchez, alias El Coss, last September.

Some say he succeeded, while others say the cartel continues to be split into factions.

The US State Department had offered a reward of $5m (£3.1m) for his capture.

Ramirez Trevino, who was born in 1962 according to the US government, is wanted on several federal drug violations.

The Gulf’s power has waned in recent years in a feud with Mexico's most brutal gang, the Zetas, which used to be the cartel's own security arm.

But Washington says the Gulf controls most of the cocaine and marijuana trafficking to the US.

Ramirez Trevino's capture marks the second major gang boss arrest in just over a month as President Enrique Pena Nieto fights cartel violence.

Mexico's marines last month arrested the leader of the Zetas, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, a few miles from his hometown of Nuevo Laredo on the US border.

This weekend, 23 bodies with gunshot wounds and hands bound have been found in western Mexico where drug cartels, vigilantes and security forces have been fighting for much of the year.