The driver was
armed with a rifle and had a pistol tucked into his waistband when he
was ordered by troops to surrender after the chase, authorities said. He
subsequently identified himself as Martinez, who authorities said is
the suspected head of the Zetas cartel in Tamaulipas
, Nuevo Leon and Coahuila states, all of which border the US.
Mexican authorities
said Martinez was the mastermind of the murders of 72 migrants from
Central and South America in San Fernando, Tamaulipas, in August 2010,
in the one of the worst single acts of cartel violence in Mexico.
In addition, he is a
suspect in the murder of a Tamaulipas police commander who was found
beheaded as he was investigating the high-profile death of jet skier
David Hartley.
Hartley and his wife, Tiffany Hartley,
of the Denver area, were riding jet skis across Falcon Lake to
photograph the ruins of a church, Tiffany Hartley told U.S. authorities.
She reported that
they were approached by men in two or three boats who opened fire as the
couple attempted to speed away and that her husband was shot twice
before going under the water. His body has never been recovered.
The U.S- Mexico
border bisects Falcon Lake, and the Hartleys were on the Mexican side of
the lake when they were shot. The murder drew widespread attention in
the United States, especially in Texas.
"This came as shock
after two years," Tiffany Hartley's mother, Cynthia Young, told Reuters
on Monday when asked about the arrest. "We're trying to piece it all
together."
Around 60,000
people have been killed in raging drug-related violence in Mexico over
the last six years since President Felipe Calderon sent the military to
crack down on the cartels. The Zetas, formed around a group of former
Mexican soldiers, has emerged as the most brutal cartel fighting for
turf.
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