Mexico's army has arrested a leading member of one of the country's most notorious drug cartels, the attorney-general's office said on Monday.Soldiers detained Alfredo Beltran Leyva on Sunday in the northwestern city of Culiacan, a spokeswoman for the office said. Beltran Leyva and three other people arrested with him were carrying some $900,000 in cash in two suitcases.
Prosecutors say Beltran Leyva is a close associate of Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, Mexico's most wanted man and the head of an alliance of smugglers based in Sinaloa state.
The Sinaloa gang is in a bitter fight with the rival Gulf Cartel, based just south of Texas, for control of smuggling routes. More than 2,500 people died last year, despite a military-led crackdown by President Felipe Calderon's government.