El PASO, Texas (Border Report) – Mexican authorities say they’ve arrested a high-ranking member of a Sinaloa cartel proxy in Chihuahua and are now looking for his boss, a drug-trafficker nicknamed “Bin Laden.”
Hector Manuel M. M., also knownn as “El Chapo MM” or “302” was arrested Wednesday in the city of Parral, said Chihuahua Attorney General Cesar Augusto Peniche.
“302” and Cesar Ulises R.J., a man also known as “309” and who was arrested last November, are charged with the aggravated kidnapping and murder of Jonathan Fernando Moreno in 2018. Mexican police don’t release full names of suspects.
Both men are part of a Sinaloa cartel cell known as “Los Salgueiro” that operates in southern Chihuahua state and is responsible for illegal logging, fuel theft and drug trafficking activities, Peniche said.
The cell is allegedly led by Antonio Leonel Camacho Mendoza, also known as “Bin Laden” or “300,” state police sources said. “Bin Laden” remains at large.
The Sinaloa cartel has waged a decade-and-a-half war in Chihuahua against the Juarez cartel, now known as “La Linea.”
The feud has left thousands of people dead since 2006 and has intensified in the past three years, as La Linea picks up strength, according to U.S. analysts. Nineteen members of a second Sinaloa cartel proxy, Gente Nueva, were killed in an ambush in Western Chihuahua last April by members of La Linea. That cell is allegedly led by Francisco Arvizu Marquez, a.k.a. “The Jaguar.”
Peniche said the state police this week arrested a mid-level leader of La Linea in the town of Guerrero. Marco Antonio B.R., also known as “Maruchan,” was arrested last Tuesday on kidnapping charges.
“Maruchan” allegedly oversaw criminal activities for La Linea in the towns of Guerrero, La Junta, Tomochi and Matachi, the attorney general said.
“These are two relevant arrests of two criminal gang leaders from two opposing groups,” Peniche said.