Mexico announces Chihuahua cartel arrest

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CHIHUAHUA CITY, Mexico, June 19 (UPI) -- Mexico says a reputed high-ranking drug trafficker was in the custody of federal police Sunday following his arrest by the army in Chihuahua City.

Jose Guadalupe Rivas Gonzalez, who was captured by troops on an undisclosed day, was described as a top lieutenant of Jose Antonio Acosta Hernandez, the reputed leader of the notorious La Linia gang.

The Defense Ministry said in a written statement that Rivas was armed and in possession of 10 pounds of marijuana when he was picked up.

The arrest of Rivas may put Mexican authorities a step closer to Acosta, whom the El Paso (Texas) Times said Sunday was the most wanted man in Chihuahua and oversees one of the two violent gangs locked in a turf war over the border city of Juarez.

Acosta's right-hand man, Marco Antonio Guzman Zuniga, also known sometimes as "El Brad Pitt," was nabbed in Chihuahua City last week, the newspaper said.