Knights Templar boss ‘La Tuta’ Gomez rumored to have been arrested

Rumors of the arrest of Knights Templar kingpin Servando “La Tuta” Gomez remain unconfirmed.

Unconfirmed reports are circulating that Servando Gomez Martinez, the last remaining leader of Mexico’s infamous Knights Templar drug cartel, has been arrested in the western state of Michoacan.

A former teacher more commonly known as “La Tuta,” Gomez was reportedly captured near the border with neighboring Colima state and then airlifted to Mexico City, according to Mexican journalist Luis Avalos. Some 1,400 members of Mexico’s Rural Guard had been searching for Gomez in the area, but there has been not yet been any official confirmation of his arrest.

Gomez was a founding member and leader of the now-defunct quasi-religious cartel La Familia Michoacana and subsequent splinter group the Knights Templar, which has been severely weakened by vigilante groups and federal forces over the last year. After the deaths of his associates, Nazario “El Chayo” Moreno and Enrique “Kike” Plancarte, Gomez became the only major Templar leader still at large and in recent months he is thought to have founded a new organization known as the Third Brotherhood.

Rumored to have been hiding out in the mountains of Michoacan, Gomez has proved a more elusive figure than his peers. He has always managed to evade arrest, despite the U.S. and Mexican authorities offering bounties worth approximately $7 million for information leading to his capture or prosecution.

“Honestly he’s very smart. He moves alone, he doesn’t bring anyone with him,” said Alberto Gutierrez, leader of the Rural Guard in Michoacan, on Tuesday.

But, despite being on the run, Gomez has refused to keep a low profile. He often posts videos of himself taunting the Mexican government on YouTube and in January he even granted an interview to a team of reporters from the UK’s Channel 4 News.