Mexican Federal forces captured Dionisio Loya Plancarte on Monday, Jan. 27, one of the leaders of the cartel known as "The Knights Templar."
In a press conference, spokesmen for the Mexican government announced on Monday that the Army and the Attorney General's Office (PGR) had captured Loya. The PGR offered a $30 million peso reward for his capture in the city of Morelia, Michoacán, the state where the cartel operates, reported Reuters.
Considered to be second-in-command of the cartel, Loya was captured by federal forces "in flagrante with illegal firearms and has already been sent to the facilities of the Deputy Attorney Specialized in the Investigation of Organized Crime (SEIDO) of the PGR," CNN México reported.
On Monday afternoon, Miguel ángel Osorio Chong, Mexico's Minister of the Interior, praised the work of the Army in the arrest of "El Tío" Plancarte and said it is the government's job—not the job of vigilantes—to detain criminals, in reference to the "self-defense" groups that have appeared in recent weeks in the western state of Michoacán, comprised of people who have risen up in arms against cartel violence.
"[Dionisio Loya Plancarte] was captured thanks to our intelligence services, the work of our federal agencies who have shown that we can [achieve] results working this way," Osorio Chong told the Mexican media, according to the BBC.
It is worth noting that the government of President Enrique Peña Nieto has been facing a growing problem regarding the "self-defense" groups that appeared in the region of Tierra Caliente, Michoacán.
Until recently, large portions of the state were under the control of the cartel, a situation that changed early this month when the Autodefensas took over various towns and cities of Michoacán, which caused clashes between the self-defense groups and the cartel.
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