MEXICO CITY, March 10: Mexican authorities have broken up a group believed responsible for smuggling as much as one-fourth of the cocaine consumed in the US, officials here said, after arresting the suspected head of the Tijuana drug cartel.

Benjamin Arellano Felix, 49, the most wanted drug trafficking suspect in the United States and Mexico, was the cartel’s chief executive. He was arrested on Saturday by Mexican army officers in Puebla, 80 kilometers southeast of Mexico City.

Upon his arrest in the early hours, Arellano confirmed the death of his brother and fellow gang member Ramon in a February 10 shoot-out with authorities in Mazatlan.

The house in which he was captured has an altar that includes a photograph of dead brother Ramon, known as “the trigger man,” for whose capture the FBI had offered a four-million dollar reward.—AFP