Leader of Mexican drugs gang caught

Mexican marines have captured the alleged leader of a drugs gang and one of the country's most-wanted fugitives, the government said.

The alleged capo, known as "El Grande", did not put up any resistance when he was arrested, according to government security spokesman Alejandro Poire.

He released a statement saying: "[This] is a new and powerful blow by the government to organised crime, given the high level of danger posed by this person, as well as his hierarchy in one of the most extensive criminal organisations in the country."

Villarreal's capture is the third major blow delivered to drug cartels by the government of President Felipe Calderon in the past year.

First came the death of Arturo Beltran Leyva, the top leader of Beltran Leyva cartel, in a raid outside Mexico City on December 16, 2009. Then, on August 30 federal police announced the capture of Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias "La Barbie", a former Beltran Leyva hitman and operative.

Villarreal, "El Grande," appears on an Attorney General's Office list of Mexico's most-wanted drug traffickers, with a reward of just over $2 million US dollars offered for his capture.

More than 28,000 people have been killed in Mexico since December 2006, when Calderon launched a military offensive against the cartels soon after taking office.