Tijuana, Mexico/El Paso, Texas: Police in the border city of Mexicali have arrested a purported top figure in Mexico's powerful Sinaloa drug cartel, authorities said on Friday.
Baja California state police arrested Manuel Garibay on Thursday while he was driving in Mexicali, across from Calexico, California, the state public security department said in a statement.
Garibay, 52, was the Sinaloa cartel's link to Colombian cocaine suppliers since last year's arrest of Vicente "El Vicentillo" Zambada, the department said. Zambada's father, Ismael "El Mayo" Zambada, is one of the leaders of the Sinaloa cartel together with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, according to authorities.
Garibay was being sought by authorities for trafficking cocaine from Colombia to Mexico, and for being involved in several kidnappings and killings, it said. Garibay allegedly led a cell of at least 28 cartel members including his brother, Jose Luis Garibay, who was arrested in Mexicali in 2005.
Meanwhile, in the border state of Tamaulipas, at least 11 gunmen died in three separate clashes with Mexican navy and army troops. The navy said in a statement that six gunmen died Thursday in two shootouts in Matamoros, across from Brownsville, Texas.
Another five gunmen died after clashing with soldiers late Thursday in Ciudad Mier, which is also in Tamaulipas, the Mexican army said in a separate statement. In Texas, a 15-year-old Mexican boy shot and killed by a US Border Patrol agent was among El Paso's most wanted juvenile immigrant smugglers, according to federal arrest records reviewed by The Associated Press.
