Narcos burn buses after arrest of Jalisco Cartel kingpin

Residents of Zapopan’s affluent Patria Universidad neighborhood awoke early Thursday morning to the sound of a military helicopter buzzing overhead and the sight of troops rumbling by in jeeps and armored vehicles.

Gang members responded to the military operation – in which the second-in-command of the Cartel Jalisco Nueva Generacion (CJNG) was detained – by setting three vehicles alight in the south of the Guadalajara metropolitan area.

Ruben Oseguera Gonzalez, alias “El Menchito,” the son of CJNG leader Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, alias “El Mencho,” was captured  alongside four accomplices in the raid on a property on William Shakespeare street, the federal government confirmed.

Not a shot was fired in the joint operation conducted by the Mexican Army and the Navy at around 5 a.m. Scores of soldiers closed off the surrounding streets while a helicopter circled above but by 9:30 a.m. virtually all of the military personnel had departed.

The suspects, who were caught in possession of 13 illegal firearms, 500,000 dollars and 10 to 16 million pesos in cash, were taken for questioning at the federal attorney general’s organized crime division (SEIDO).

The most prominent drug-trafficking organization in Guadalajara and the state of Jalisco, the CJNG has close links to the powerful Sinaloa Federation and is at war with rival gangs Los Zetas and the Knights Templar. Oseguera, who is also known as “Junior,” was responsible for coordinating CJNG operations and served as his father’s right-hand man, according to the federal government.

Monte Alejandro Rubido Garcia, the federal chief of public security, said that the detainee was tasked with maintaining control of CJNG territory in the western states of Jalisco and Colima. Oseguera managed the buying, trafficking and selling of drugs shipped from South America; he was responsible for the theft and resale of fuel in Jalisco; and he ordered the killings of people who refused to collaborate with the cartel, Rubido alleged.

Jalisco Prosecutor General Carlos Najera confirmed that criminals reacted by setting three buses on fire in the aftermath of the operation in a bid to “affect the people and government of Jalisco.”

The aim of burning buses is to create enough chaos to disrupt traffic and buy time for related criminals to evade capture. The CJNG employed the same tactics in Guadalajara in March 2012 after the arrest of founding member Erick Valencia Salazar, alias “El 85.”

The vehicles targeted included a milk truck on Avenida El Colli and the Periferico ringroad; a 640 bus on Avenida Las Torres and Calle Cedro; and a 625e bus on Rosas street in Los Cajetes de Zapopan, which only suffered minor damage after a Molotov cocktail that was thrown at it failed to properly ignite. No injuries were reported in any of the incidents.

The U.S. Consulate in Guadalajara issued a warning on Thursday morning noting that it had “received reports of criminal roadblockades in the Guadalajara metropolitan area. At least three busses and cars were hijacked, left in the middle of roads and set on fire to disrupt traffic.”

The Consulate added that it “advises against travel on the periferico highway and to the airport. Please exercise caution on all roads and stay alert to public announcements from Mexican police and authorities.”