Accused CJNG Leader ‘The Tank’ Captured in Zapopan

Mexican authorities arrested a man identified as a senior figure in the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) on Tuesday in Zapopan, the government announced.

Security Secretary Omar Garcia Harfuch said on X that the man taken into custody, Iván Cazarín Molina, is known within the organization by the alias “The Tank.” He said Mexican authorities coordinated with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency during the operation.

According to Harfuch, investigations connect Cazarín Molina to homicides, extortion, kidnapping, fuel theft, money laundering and drug trafficking. He is also accused of involvement in a 2015 attack on a Mexican Army helicopter in Jalisco that killed members of the Army and Federal Police.

“Investigations link him to homicides, extortion, illegal deprivation of liberty, hydrocarbon theft, money laundering, and drug trafficking. He is also accused of his alleged involvement in the attack on a Mexican Army helicopter in Jalisco in 2015, in which members of the Army and the Federal Police lost their lives,” Harfuch said.

Officers seized a vehicle, a firearm and quantities of drugs during the arrest, authorities said.

The U.S. Treasury Department sanctioned Cazarín Molina in September 2024 over his ties to the CJNG, naming him part of the inner circle of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” the cartel’s leader. Harfuch said that designation led to information-sharing with the DEA.

Cazarín Molina will be handed over to Mexico’s Specialized Prosecutor’s Office for Organized Crime Matters, known as FEMDO, where his legal situation will be determined, Harfuch said.

Part of a broader crackdown

The arrest comes about a week after the United States imposed a sweeping round of sanctions targeting a Sinaloa cartel network accused of corrupting Mexican officials near the U.S. border. That network, known as Los Mayos, and its U.S.-born leader are accused of moving fentanyl and drug proceeds through California and hiring hitmen to carry out killings on American soil.

The Treasury Department is sanctioning 21 individuals and 25 entities in that separate crackdown, which targets Los Mayos members including Ismael Zambada Sicairos, known as “Mayito Flaco,” a dual U.S.-Mexican citizen born in Anaheim, California, whom Treasury described as the group’s “undisputed head.”