Mexican police capture a Sinaloa cartel boss

Ciudad Juarez, Mexico, Aug 29 (EFE).- A suspected Sinaloa cartel boss in Ciudad Juarez, a border city in northern Mexico that was considered one of the most dangerous places in the world until recently, was arrested by police, Chihuahua state Gov. Cesar Duarte said.

Mario Nuñez Meza was detained early Wednesday at a hotel in Juarez, located across the Rio Grande from El Paso, Texas.

"Mr. Mario Nuñez Meza, nicknamed 'M10' and wanted by the DEA (U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration), Interpol and Mexican authorities, was detained at a hotel in Juarez," the governor said in a press conference on Wednesday.

The suspected Sinaloa cartel boss "is linked to hundreds of murders both in Durango and in Chihuahua. We located a safe house, where he had 14 explosives, known as 'sausages,' which are of the same type used in a car bomb in Ciudad Juarez in 2010," Duarte said.

Nuñez Meza, who is the subject of two arrest warrants issued in the United States on firearms and drug charges, will be questioned in Mexico City by the Siedo organized crime unit of the federal Attorney General's Office, Duarte said.

"This individual is one of the most aggressive and bloody, and he confessed to numerous crimes in Durango and Chihuahua," the governor said.

The Sinaloa cartel cell led by Nuñez Meza murdered police officers in several cities in Chihuahua in recent years, officials said in Ciudad Juarez.

The Sinaloa cartel, sometimes referred to by officials as the Pacific cartel, is led by Joaquin "El Chapo" (Shorty) Guzman.

The Sinaloa organization is the oldest and most powerful drug cartel in Mexico, and Guzman, considered extremely violent, is one of the most-wanted criminals in Mexico and the United States, where the Drug Enforcement Administration has offered a reward of $5 million for him.

The Sinaloa cartel, according to intelligence agencies, is a transnational business empire that operates in the United States, Western Europe, Eastern Europe, the Americas and Asia.