In a military-led operation, José Ignacio Vega Ruiz, 49, alias “Nacho Vega”, one of the leaders and operators of the Gulf Cartel, which is headed by his brother-in-law José Alfredo Cárdenas Martínez, alias “El Contador”, was arrested in Matamoros, Tamaulipas. The Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection (SSPC) reported that intelligence work carried out by its personnel, with the support of the Secretariat of National Defense (Defense) and the National Guard (GN), allowed them to identify “Nacho Vega’s” area of operation in the Tamaulipas municipality of Matamoros. Accordingly, police and military personnel began to establish security cordons in Matamoros until they managed to locate and arrest him. Thus, after identifying the person in question, elements of the Attorney General's Office (FGR) and military personnel arrested 49-year-old José Ignacio Vega Ruiz, who was in possession of two long-barreled weapons, a magazine, and more than 100 cartridges. Intelligence reports indicate that José Ignacio Vega Ruiz, alias “Nacho Vega,” was one of the leaders of the Gulf Cartel and also served as the group's financial operator, in charge of transactions to facilitate money laundering, drug trafficking, arms smuggling, and human trafficking from Mexico to the United States. The federal government's security cabinet also considered this individual the operational head of the assassin cells known as “Scorpions” and “Cyclones,” which have been linked to kidnappings, disappearances, extortion, intentional homicide, and attacks on authorities from all three levels of government. Furthermore, it was identified that in 2023, “Nacho Vega” was accused in the Southern District of Texas, United States, for the crime of importing, distributing, and smuggling several loads of narcotics from Mexico to the United States. Subsequently, he was charged with conspiracy to import and distribute narcotics in the United States, operating a criminal enterprise, and arms trafficking, for which he has an arrest warrant and is considered a fugitive from U.S. justice. After his capture, Vega Ruiz was made available to a public prosecutor from the FGR to be prosecuted for the crimes committed flagrantly, so his legal situation will be defined in the coming hours.
