The suspected leader of La Línea criminal gang, the armed wing of the Juárez Cartel, was arrested in an operation carried out by federal security forces in Ciudad Juárez, Chihuahua, yesterday morning.

Julio César Oliva Torres, also known as “El Sexto” or “El Sixto,” was wanted by both Mexican authorities and the Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) in the United States.

He is accused of smuggling drugs from Ciudad Juárez into the U.S. and being behind a recent wave of violence in the border city that has left scores of people dead.

Interior Secretary Alfonso Navarrete Prida said Oliva Torres was apprehended in the Quintas del Solar residential estate, from where he allegedly managed his criminal activities.

He also said the operation carried out by the army, Federal Police and the Criminal Investigation Agency of the federal Attorney General’s office (PGR) resulted in the simultaneous arrests of Enrique Elier, second in command of La Línea, and César Marlon Reyes, his financial operator, at another Ciudad Juárez housing estate.

The security forces seized one kilogram of methamphetamine, half a kilogram of cocaine, 250 psychotropic pills, two hand guns, two vehicles and two sets of scales in the operation.

With Oliva Torres’ arrest, 110 of 122 key criminal targets identified by the federal government have now been arrested.

He was the successor to former La Línea leader Carlos Arturo Quintana, “El 80,” who was arrested in Chihuahua in May.

“After the arrest of the main criminal leader [Quintana] of La Línea in Ciudad Juárez, the city was the object of unusual violence that accounted for more than 30 homicides in a single weekend,” Navarrete Prida said.

“Presumably, one of the generators of violence at that time was the person who has been arrested [Oliva Torres], which is great news for Mexican society and for the society of Ciudad Juárez and Chihuahua.”

Source: Milenio (sp)