US captures suspected Mexican drug cartel leader

MONTERREY, Mexico, July 18 (Reuters) The United States has captured a suspected leader of Mexico's powerful Gulf drug cartel and one of the country's most wanted men, Carlos ''El Puma'' Landin, while he was shopping in Texas, the Drug Enforcement Administration said.

Landin, a former Mexican police officer who is wanted on drug-smuggling charges in Mexico and the United States, crossed into McAllen, Texas, on Saturday, where DEA officers unexpectedly found him shopping for groceries.

''Landin was responsible for collecting taxes on drugs smuggled through (the Mexican border city of) Reynosa. He was number two in the Reynosa plaza,'' said DEA spokesman Will Glaspy.

The Gulf cartel, which relies on its armed wing, the Zetas, dominates smuggling routes into Texas via the Mexican border cities of Matamoros, Reynosa and Nuevo Laredo.

The DEA has asked the judge holding Landin, who is in his 50s, not to release him on bail, Glaspy said. US authorities will seek to put him in prison for up to 20 years, he added.

Landin was believed to be close to Osiel Cardenas, the alleged leader of Mexico's Gulf Cartel who was extradited from Mexico in January to face trial in Texas.

REUTERS PY RK1031