MEXICO CITY (Pakistan Point News / Sputnik - 02nd November, 2021) Mexico City police have detained the leader of the drug cartel known as the Knights Templar, Francisco Maldonado Bustos, also known as Don Jose, the media reported.
In 2016, the Attorney General's Office of Mexico announced a reward of more than $70,000 for the capture of Bustos, and in 2020, the Mexican armed forces identified the leader of the cartel as one of the main generators of violence in the country.
Bustos was reportedly detained on Monday in the Napoles metropolitan area. Police found 153 transparent bags, presumably containing cocaine, as well as a machine pistol in his car, according to the newspaper Tribuna.
The Knights Templar cartel emerged in January 2011, triggering a�fierce struggle for influence between the Knights and another cartel, the Michoacan Family. Michoacan is considered one of the key states in drug trafficking from South America to the United States.
