Mexican authorities arrested the main link between the Sinaloa Drug Cartel and its suppliers in Colombia, along with eight other alleged drug traffickers, police said Wednesday.
Geronimo Gamez Garcia allegedly travelled often to Panama and Colombia to negotiate drug prices and organize deliveries. Cocaine was then taken to Mexico through the country's border with Guatemala, dpa reported.
The arrest was regarded as a severe blow against the cartel led by the Beltran Leyva brothers creating a fracture "in its structure in terms of drug trafficking," Police Commissioner Rodrigo Esparza Cristerna said.
Gamez Garcia, 41, a cousin of drug boss Arturo Beltran Leyva, had financial and logistical responsibilities for the cartel and "reported directly" to his cousin, Esparza said. He had been followed by intelligence officers since November.
There was no immediate information about the volume of drugs or money the man had handled.
However, police seized 1 million dollars during the operation. One Colombian citizen, allegedly a representative of the North of the Valley Colombian drug cartel, was also among those arrested.