Overview
- Mexican special forces, which arrested Flores on Monday in Nayarit, moved after about 19 months of surveillance and deployed more than 500 troops with six helicopters and several aircraft.
- The Navy said Flores was found hiding in a drainage ditch after trying to flee his hideout, and officials reported no injuries in the capture.
- U.S. authorities had offered a $5 million reward for Flores, who faces a Mexican arrest warrant and a pending U.S. extradition request.
- Security officials say he ran meth labs and Pacific smuggling routes in states including Jalisco and Zacatecas, and he was viewed as a possible successor to CJNG leader “El Mencho,” killed on February 22.
- Mexican authorities said U.S. surveillance data supported the raid, a sign of continued cooperation as both governments navigate fallout from a separate CIA incident in Chihuahua, while CJNG remains a major force in fentanyl and meth trafficking.