Wanted Drug Lord’s Brother Found Dead in Mexico

MORELIA, Mexico – Mexican police on Friday found the dead body of the purported brother of Los Caballeros Templarios (Knights Templar) chief Servando “La Tuta” Gomez Martinez, the country’s most wanted drug lord, authorities said.

Aquiles Gomez Martinez was found dead Friday morning of a gunshot wound at his home in the Pacific port city of Lazaro Cardenas, the Michoacan state Attorney General’s Office said.

A 9 mm pistol, two ammunition clips and a box containing 50 bullets were also found at the residence, the AG’s office said.

Prosecutors had identified him and two other purported brothers of “La Tuta,” Flavio and Luis Felipe Gomez Martinez, as chief operators of the Templarios.

Elsewhere in Michoacan, the slain bodies of six people bearing gunshot wounds were found near a campus of the University of San Nicolas de Hidalgo in the city of Uruapan.

Authorities said they believe those individuals were killed in another place and their bodies were dumped at the intersection where they were discovered.

One individual was found alive at that same location and is currently being treated at a local hospital, the state AG’s office said.

The federal government intervened in January in Michoacan to fill a security vacuum in that southwestern state, where community self-defense groups had formed to defend themselves against the Templarios.

Since January, federal authorities have dealt the cartel a series of blows, capturing or killing several of its top leaders.

The Templarios, which deal in both synthetic and natural drugs, commit murders, stage kidnappings and run extortion rackets that target business owners and transport companies in Michoacan.

Residents in several towns and cities formed vigilante groups in February 2013 to fight the crime outfit.