Mexico arrests Los Zetas drug cartel leader

Omar Trevino Morales, known as "Z-42" and leader of the Zetas drug cartel, is escorted by soldiers during a media conference about his arrest in Mexico City March 4, 2015.[Photo/Agencies]

MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities on Wednesday arrested the head of the country's northern Los Zetas drug cartel, Omar Trevino Morales.

The arrest, the second of a drug cartel kingpin in many weeks, followed Friday's capture of Servando Gomez Martinez, head of central Mexico's Knights Templar drug cartel.

Trevino, also known as "Zeta 42", was captured in a predawn raid at a home in metropolitan Monterrey, the capital of industrial Nuevo Leon state.

Mexico's Attorney General's Office had been offering 30 million pesos (about 2 million US dollars) for the capture of Trevino, who took over the cartel after his brother Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, "Zeta 40", was arrested in July 2013 on the border between Nuevo Leon and Coahuila states.

Writer and journalist Ricardo Ravelo, speaking on a highly-rated radio news program, said that the operation would deal an "important" blow to the organized crime clan. However, it was unlikely to hurt the cartel or dent drug trafficking in general.

"They get rid of the heads, but the cartel continues to operate. In other words, they don't deal a blow to the business," said Ravelo.

Los Zetas is considered the second largest organized crime syndicate in north Mexico, after the Sinaloa Cartel.