The regional leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as “El Tanque”, was taken into custody in the town of Zapopan in Jalisco state, Mexican security officials announced on Tuesday. Security Minister Omar Garcia Harfuch said the arrest was carried out by Mexican security forces.
Garcia Harfuch said investigations link the suspect to homicides, extortion, unlawful deprivation of liberty, fuel theft, money laundering and drug trafficking, and that he operated in Veracruz, Oaxaca, Tabasco and Puebla. In September 2024 the U.S. Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control sanctioned him as part of the inner circle of Nemesio Oseguera Cervantes, aka “El Mencho.”
El Mencho was killed earlier this year during a U.S.-backed Mexican military operation after being seriously wounded on Feb. 22, 2026. His death triggered widespread unrest, with roads in 20 states blocked by burning cars, residents in Guadalajara forced indoors, and schools in several states cancelling classes. Security forces nationwide were placed on high alert and Guatemala reinforced border security.
El Tanque is also accused of participating in a 2015 attack on a Mexican army helicopter in Jalisco that killed army and federal police members. The U.S. sanctions identified him as Ivan Cazarin Molina and said his fuel theft generates tens of millions of dollars per year for himself and CJNG. Founded in 2009, the CJNG has become one of Mexico’s most violent cartels, with the highest capacity for trafficking cocaine, heroin, methamphetamine and, more recently, fentanyl into the United States.
