Mexico Captures Major Tijuana Drug Gang Leader

Mexican police captured a drug kingpin on Tuesday known for having the corpses of tortured rivals dissolved in acid and blamed for much of a surge in violence in the northern border city of Tijuana. In a fresh victory for Mexico's bloody war on drug gangs, Teodoro Garcia Simental was caught in southern Baja California early Tuesday, police said.

Garcia Simental, also known as "El Teo" or "Tres Letras" for the three letters in his nickname Teo, was apprehended when an elite force of some 50 federal police raided an upscale neighbourhood in the beach town of La Paz near the tip of the Baja California peninsula. They searched several houses before finding him.

"No shots were fired. It was a very fast operation. The investigation has been going on for a long time," a police officer who participated in the operation told Reuters. Garcia Simental was handcuffed and swiftly flown to Mexico City. The top smuggler split from the Tijuana-based Arellano Felix cartel to help Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman -- head of the rival Sinaloa cartel and Mexico's most wanted man -- wrest control of key smuggling corridors in northern Mexico.