Officials: Zetas leader arrested in Matamoros

BROWNSVILLE — Mexican federal police in Matamoros have arrested a leader of the Zetas criminal organization following a three-month investigation, the country’s Public Safety Ministry said in a news release.

Tomás Ochoa Celis, aka Tommy, was arrested Thursday evening in the Eva Samano neighborhood of Matamoros, according to the ministry, which is known in Spanish by the initials SSP.

Ochoa was turned over to the Deputy Attorney General’s Office for Special Investigation into Organized Crime (SIEDO), which continues to investigate the case.

The arrest was carried out as part of an SSP investigation, with intelligence assistance from various U.S. agencies, which tracked Ochoa to Matamoros, the agency said.

During the operation, federal police officers also seized an AR-15 assault rifle, a fragmentation grenade, a bulletproof vest and 11 cell phones, SSP said.

According to the agency, Ochoa was the Zeta leader in charge of the area known as the Emerald Coast in the Mexican state of Veracruz. Mexican officials say the Zetas — a Miguel Alemán-based paramilitary organization founded by former members of Mexican special forces — are led by Heriberto Lazcano, aka El Lazca, who remains at large.

Historically, the Zetas have been considered the enforcement arm of the Gulf Cartel, but they have grown in power to the point that they now operate as an independent cartel in their own right.

As the Zetas’ capo for the Emerald Coast, Ochoa would report his activities to Alberto Jose Gonzalez Xalate, aka El Paisa, who is also at large and is in charge of the group’s activities in Reynosa, SSP said. Ochoa has also been identified as one of the leaders responsible for the movement of cocaine from Guatemala to the town of Diaz Ordaz, across the border from Sullivan City.

The cocaine was taken through Comitan Chiapas, on the border with Guatemala, through the states of Tabasco, Veracruz and Tamaulipas until it reached Diaz Ordaz, where it was stored in warehouses before being moved to the U.S., the agency said.

Each cocaine shipment was about 1 ton and was transported using tractor-trailers with hidden compartments, SSP said. The payment for the drugs was shipped using the same trucks.

Ochoa stated while in custody that he was paid $20,000 per month for the drugs he was moving, SSP said. He was sentenced in 1996 in the United States to nine years in prison for drug and weapons offenses.