Top Mexican cartel leader arrested along with his alleged money launderer

Mexican special forces are seen transferring drug kingpin Audias Flores, known ‌as 'El Jardinero', from a plane following his arrest.

MONTERREY, Mexico -- Mexican special forces have arrested Audias Flores, known ‌as “El Jardinero” and one of the top commanders of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), in the western state of Nayarit, security minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said on Monday.

Flores - a regional commander in control of swathes of CJNG territory along Mexico’s Pacific coast - was considered a potential successor to Nemesio Oseguera, alias “El Mencho,” who ran the cartel and was killed in a security operation in February.

Security forces surrounded a cabin in El Mirador, some 20 kilometres north of the popular resort city of Puerto Vallarta, where Flores was being protected by a perimeter of some 30 pickup trucks and over 60 ​gunmen, according to ​a press release from Mexico’s Navy, which led the operation.

Flores’ escorts scattered as a diversion but ‌he was located as he tried to ⁠hide in a drainage ditch, it added.

“The operation was carried out with surgical precision without a single shot being fired,” the navy said in a statement.

Videos shared by Garcia Harfuch on social media showed aerial footage of the arrest as helicopters hovered overhead during the operation, which the navy said followed 19 months of surveillance and involved more than 500 troops, six helicopters and several planes.

The navy also used intelligence provided by U.S. authorities in the successful capture, including aerial surveillance, according to a ⁠Mexican security official who spoke on the condition of anonymity.

It was not immediately clear if Flores would face charges in Mexico, but Garcia Harfuch said he was wanted for extradition by U.S. authorities, who have offered a US$5-million reward for his arrest.

Later in the day, Mexican authorities announced they had arrested Cesar Alejandro N., nicknamed “El Güero Conta,” who Mexican authorities say was ⁠a key money launderer for Flores.

‘Bigger’ than El Mencho

Carlos Olivo, a former U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration assistant special agent in charge and a CJNG expert, said Flores was a “significant figure” and that his arrest “will have a bigger effect on CJNG operations than El Mencho being taken out.”

Flores was key to operations within the Jalisco cartel, controlling networks of drug laboratories, smuggling routes, and distribution networks within the United ​States, according to the Mexican security official.

Mexico has significantly stepped up its security efforts, under enormous pressure from U.S. President Donald Trump.

Trump has ‌repeatedly threatened to use unilateral military action in Mexico if he ⁠feels that the Mexican government is not doing ⁠enough to fight the cartels.

Last year, the Trump administration also tied tariff threats to what it considered insufficient measures to halt fentanyl trafficking and curb migration. The U.S., Mexico and Canada are in the process of reviewing their shared free ⁠trade pact.

Monday’s arrest of “a key leader of the violent CJNG represents a significant step forward in the fight against those who profit from fentanyl and fuel violence in our communities,” U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ronald Johnson said on social media.

The U.S. Treasury Department identified Flores as ‌a “significant foreign narcotics trafficker” in 2021, when a U.S. grand jury had charged him with conspiracy to distribute cocaine and heroin, among other crimes.

The ⁠arrest marks the latest blow to Mexican drug cartels after ‌El Mencho’s killing - a personal mission for Garcia Harfuch, who blamed El Mencho for a 2020 assassination attempt that left two of his bodyguards dead.

Flores was among several top regional leaders who security analysts believed could be well placed to take over control of the cartel.

Mexico’s security situation is facing tight scrutiny ‌as the country prepares to co-host the FIFA World Cup ‌this summer alongside the U.S. and Canada.

By Laura Gottesdiener, ‌Ana Isabel Martinez and Lizbeth Diaz

(Reporting by Laura Gottesdiener, Lizbeth ​Diaz and Ana Isabel Martinez; Writing by Sarah Morland; Editing by Daina Beth Solomon, Bill Berkrot and Nia Williams)