Dramatic footage has emerged showing the moment a high-ranking leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) was discovered hiding in a drainage ditch after being tracked down by Mexican special forces. Audias Flores, known by the alias 'The Gardener', was captured on Monday following a large-scale military operation.
Military Operation Details
Videos released by Mexico's security minister depict helicopters circling overhead as troops close in on their target, with aerial footage capturing the search from above. Flores's companions attempted to scatter to divert attention, but he was spotted as he tried to conceal himself in a drain. The operation followed 19 months of surveillance and involved more than 500 soldiers, six helicopters, and multiple aircraft.
Arrests and Background
Mexican authorities confirmed that two high-level criminals were arrested in the raid, including Flores, a close ally of the slain founder of the CJNG, Nemesio 'El Mencho' Oseguera. El Mencho died in February after being wounded in a shootout with Mexican soldiers in the western state of Jalisco, which triggered a wave of highway blockades and shootouts that left over 70 people dead.
Audias Flores Silva served as El Mencho's 'right-hand man' until the latter's death, according to security analyst David Saucedo. He had been charged with forging an alliance between the CJNG and the 'Chapitos', the faction of the Sinaloa cartel led by the family of Joaquin 'El Chapo' Guzman, Saucedo added, citing US and Mexican intelligence sources. The think tank Insight Crime described Flores Silva, nicknamed 'The Gardener', as one of El Mencho's possible successors.
Extradition and Regional Arrests
Special forces of the Mexican navy captured Flores Silva in the western state of Nayarit, Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch announced on X. The captured man is 'sought by US authorities with the goal of extradition,' Harfuch added. Earlier, the government of northeastern Tamaulipas state reported the arrest of Alexander 'N', a member of a criminal gang operating near the US-Mexico border. His capture provoked at least eight highway blockades by criminal groups on roads surrounding the border city of Reynosa. The spokesperson for Tamaulipas security forces confirmed that authorities reestablished control and that no one was wounded during the attacks. Mexican news outlets identified the criminal as Alexander Benavides Flores, or 'R9', the head of Los Metros, a faction of the Gulf Cartel that has been weakened over the last decade following the capture of its leaders.
Political Context
The city of Reynosa, home to 690,000 inhabitants, sits across the river from McAllen, Texas. The administration of US President Donald Trump has pressured his Mexican counterpart Claudia Sheinbaum to crack down on organized crime gangs. Sheinbaum has repeatedly rejected US offers of drone strikes or ground troops for fighting Mexican cartels.
