Cartel figure captured in Mexico as authorities recover drugs, guns and 7 tigers

The leader of a group linked to a notorious cartel that operates near the U.S. border has been detained in Mexico, officials announced Monday. Authorities said they recovered weapons, drugs, cash and seven tigers during the arrest.

José Antonio Cortes Huerta, 39, the leader of a cell affiliated with the Northeast Cartel, was arrested after four search warrants were executed in In Nuevo León, stemming from investigation following the seizure of a boat in Tamaulipas, security minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said in a social media post. A woman, identified as 41-year-old Rosario Flores Alemán, was also detained.

Authorities said they seized unidentified narcotics, cash, 10 guns, 11 vehicles, six motorcycles — and seven tigers.

Some Mexican drug cartels are known to house exotic cats as symbols of power and, occasionally, to dispose of their enemies.  According to a 2023 U.S. indictment, some victims of a Sinaloa cartel faction were “fed dead or alive to tigers.”

Officials said the seized items are linked to Roberto Blanco Cantú who is known as “El Señor de los Buques” (“The Lord of the Ships”), a majority shareholder of the company Mefra Fletes. Cantu is allegedly responsible for fuel smuggling and is affiliated with the Northeast Cartel.

The Northeast Cartel (Cártel del Noreste) — a remnant of the infamous Zetas based in the border state of Tamaulipas — was designated as a foreign terrorist group by the Trump administration in 2025. Last month, the U.S. issued sanctions against three individuals and two casinos for their alleged links to the cartel.

Accordin to the U.S. Treasury Department,  the cartel is involved in the trafficking of illegal drugs along the border, including fentanyl, crystal meth, heroin and cocaine, and has waged a “campaign of terror on the border.”  

“CDN is involved in violent criminal activity on both sides of the border, including the kidnapping and killing of individuals that threaten their criminal enterprise on the southern border,” the department says. “CDN uses its terror-fueled influence in the region to control drug trafficking and human smuggling routes, bribe politicians and journalists, and extort local businesses and shipments flowing to and from the United States at the busiest inland point of entry for trade in the United States.”  

The latest arrest comes as Mexico continues its crackdown on cartels amid pressure from the Trump administration.

Last month, the Mexican military captured one of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel’s top leaders in the northwest of the country, two months after its leader “El Mencho” was killed.

Just days before that, Mexican soldiers captured three of the closest allies of drug lord Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman’s brother in an operation backed by U.S. intelligence.