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03-04-2010, 02:32 AM
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Mexico's Drug 'Boss of Bosses' Shot Dead in Raid on Luxury Hideout
Mexico was celebrating a rare victory in its war on drugs yesterday after one of the country’s most notorious traffickers was killed in a two-hour gun battle after 200 Navy Marines stormed his luxury hideout. Arturo Beltrán Leyva, known as the “Boss of Bosses”, died along with six of his henchmen after the Marines surrounded a complex of flats in Cuernavaca, a holiday town south of Mexico City. Beltrán Leyva, also wanted in the US, was the highest-ranking figure to be taken out by the authorities and his death marks the biggest success yet in President Calderón’s campaign to stamp out the drugs trade. The Marines, among Mr Calderón’s best-trained — and least corrupt — forces, had been planning the assault for months. They had tracked Beltrán Leyva’s movements since Friday, when they narrowly failed to capture him. Elite forces closed Cuernavaca’s roads and surrounded the complex of tower blocks. The 200 armed sailors, many arriving by helicopter, searched and evacuated the apartments and cut off communications in the area. |