Zetas Leader Captured Near Mexican Border: $2 Million Found With Trevino Morales In Pickup Truck, To Be Charged With Killing Of 265 Migrants

Zetas leader captured while in a pickup truck near the Mexican border in Nuevo Laredo on Monday. This marked a blow against the major crime leader of the "most technologically advanced, sophisticated, and dangerous cartel operating in Mexico," according to the U.S. government.

The Zetas leader captured was Miguel Angel Trevino Morales. The 40-year-old feared leader of the drug cartel also known as Los Zetas was captured inside a truck that allegedly was carrying $2 million in cash near the base of where the Zetas performed operations.

Trevino Morales was taken into custody along with a bodyguard and an accountant and eight guns, government spokesman Eduardo Sanchez told reporters as the Zetas leader was captured.

"The Drug Enforcement Administration congratulates the Government of Mexico on the arrest of Miguel Trevino Morales," the DEA said in a statement released Tuesday.

"Trevino Morales is of one of the most significant Mexican cartel leaders to be apprehended in several years and DEA will continue to support the Government of Mexico as it forges ahead in disrupting and dismantling drug trafficking organizations."

With the nickname of "Z-40," is very involved with the drug war, leaving hundreds of bodies beheaded on the side of roads.  There were 72 Central and South American migrants that were slaughtered by the Zetas in the northern town of San Fernando in 2010, authorities said.

Trevino Morales is charged with ordering the kidnapping and killing of the 265 migrants, authorities said as the group was flown to Mexico City where they expectred to trialed in a closed system.

"There continues to be the perception that capturing this type of individual has a strategic value and the logic persists that it's preferable to fragment criminal groups and reduce them in size. On this point there isn't much change," Alejandro Hope, a former member of Mexico's domestic intelligence service said.

Trevino Morales was indicted on drug trafficking and weapons charges in New York in 2009 and Washington in 2010, and the U.S. government issued a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest, according to USA Today.

According to the indictments, Trevino Morales coordinated the shipment of hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana each week from Mexico into the U.S., much of which had passed through Guatemala. He also moved bulk shipments of dollar bills back into Mexico, the documents said.