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Captured Mexican drug lord who 'stewed' his enemies alive files for court protection fearing HE is tortured in jail
- Trevino Morales, known as 'Z-40' was caught in Nuevo Laredo on Monday
- Trademark murder method was 'the stew' - burning men alive in barrels
- Crimes include murder of 72 migrants in 2010 and massacre of 192 in 2011
- Zetas known for brutal crimes in Mexico, including mass slaughters
- His arrest is hailed a boon for President Enrique Pena Nieto
PUBLISHED: 07:43 EST, 18 July 2013 | UPDATED: 09:36 EST, 18 July 2013
The boss of a notorious drugs cartel who was arrested by police in Mexico on Monday has filed for legal protection amid claims that he could be at risk of torture.
Head of the Zetas cartel, Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, who is also known as Z-40, is known for 'stewing' his enemies alive in burning oil barrels and having ordered the regular beheadings, hangings and massacres of rivals.
But he has called for protection claiming that he is at risk of harm during his detention as he is held accused of torture and murder.
Captured: This mug shot released by Mexico's Interior Ministry on shows Zetas drug cartel leader Miguel Angel Trevino Morales after his arrest
Miguel Angel Trevino Morales, aka El Z 40 is paraded in front of the cameras following his arrest on Monday
Armed and dangerous: The cartels are armed to the teeth guard their hauls of weapons and ammunition
Perp-walk: Feared Zetas drug lord faces the cameras
Sources say that a judge is likely to reject his claim in the coming days with there said to be no grounds for his complaint.
Since he was arrested in a pre-daw operation in northeastern Mexico on Monday, Trevino Morales has filed four complaints for 'the possible practices of torture, isolation and mistreatment that may have taken place or may take place,' according to Yahoo News.
If Trevino Morales's claims were upheld by a judge, there is no chance that it would lead to his release.
The arrest of Trevino Morales at dawn on Monday without a shot being fired was seen as a coup for Mexican president Enrique Pena Nieto. In his first seven months in power he has been accused of failing to take on the cartels which have claimed as many as 100,000 lives since 2006.
Trevino Morales, 40, was seized on a dirt road outside Nuevo Laredo, a Zetas stronghold in the north of the country near the US border. He was in a pick-up laden with eight guns and $2million in cash.
Arrested with him were his bodyguard – and his accountant.
He is said to have fled into heavy brush and fallen at least once scratching his face in a failed attempt to escape capture, according to a Mexican federal government official.
The official, who spoke today on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to publicly discuss the case, said the scrapes didn't result from mistreatment by the marines who apprehended him.
Ruthless: Trevino Morales, left, as a younger man, is believed to have masterminded the massacre in 2010 after which the killers piled the bodies on top of each other and left them to rot, right
Fear-mongering: Los Zetas gunmen shot dead five people in Apodaca in 2010. Four of the bodies had a message pinned to their chest with an ice pick as a warning to collaborators of a rival drug cartel. One of the messages read, 'This is going to happen to every civilian and policemen that collaborates with the Gulf Cartel'. it was signed Z, referring to Los Zetas cartel
Massacre: Three years ago the bodies of 72 people, believed to all be migrants, were found at a rural ranch in northern Mexico. The victims were shot by the members of the Zetas cartel known for exploiting vulnerable people
Mexico captures infamous Zetas druglord Z-40
He said two men travelling with the purported leader of the brutal Zetas cartel dropped to the ground when a navy helicopter positioned itself in front of their truck.
But Morales tried to run off into the brush on the side of the dirt road, but was caught, he said.
Authorities said they found eight rifles in the truck, but not a single shot was fired.
Although Trevino Morales is wanted in the United States on drug-trafficking charges, Mexican federal security spokesman Eduardo Sanchez said that he will first face trial in Mexico on multiple charges including torture, organised crime, murder, money laundering and possession of weapons.
He added that as far as he knew, the US has not yet made any formal extradition request.
Trevino Morales's arrest has been greeted as a possible turning point in the war against drugs cartels in Mexico.
Samuel Gonzalez, former top anti-drug prosecutor, said: 'I think this capture is very important, and could make the difference.
'These people (the Zetas) are the ones who invented the whole process of violence, of decapitations, of hanging people from bridges.
'If, despite all that, you see one of their most violent leaders arrested, it means that even despite those methods, they're being brought to justice.'
Slaughter: The bodies of decapitated men with their hands tied behind their back are scattered through a field in Caserio La Bomba, Guatemala in 2007, after the massacre of 27 farmers by the Zetas
Shocking: Innocent women and children and babies have been killed in Mexico's brutal drug wars
Shoot-out: Gang members lie dead in the grounds of the Los Arcos Hotel, Mexico, where at least six gunmen were shot dead after a gun fight between Mexican military and armed men from the Los Zetas
He added that unless a clear replacement leader emerges for the cartel, that police would be able to handle groups on a local level.
Among the crimes he was wanted for is the murder of more than 260 migrants who were dumped in mass graves after being kidnapped in two separate incidents in 2010 and 2011.
One technique favoured by Trevino Morales was the ‘guiso,’ or stew, in which enemies would be placed in 55-gallon oil drums and burned alive. Others who crossed the commander would be beaten to death with wooden planks.
According to the indictments, Trevino Morales co-ordinated the shipment of hundreds of pounds of cocaine and marijuana each week from Mexico to the US, much of which had passed through Guatemala.
Trevino Morales is also suspected of laundering millions of pounds through US businesses, including a thoroughbred horseracing operation allegedly run by a brother.
He reportedly enjoyed pointing randomly at people from his car and ordering his men to kill them.
He rose to the top of the Zetas last year after the previous leader died in a shootout with Mexican marines in the northern state of Coahuila.
On his orders, 72 Central and South American migrants were slaughtered by the Zetas in the northern town of San Fernando in 2010, authorities said.
The following year, 193 bodies were found buried in San Fernando, most belonging to migrants kidnapped off buses and killed by the Zetas for various reasons, including their refusal to work as drug mules.
Following their arrest, Trevino Morales and his henchmen were flown to Mexico City, where they are expected to be tried in a closed system that usually takes years to prosecute cases.
Indiscriminate: Los Zetas were behind the 2008 Morelia grenade attacks that saw eight were killed and over 100 injured
Gruesome drug war: In September 2011 two trucks were abandoned after one of them spilled 35 bodies of men and women belonging to the Los Zetas gang killed by a rival cartel. Morales and his henchmen set out to exact bitter revenge for the slaughter
Cache: Weapons belonging to the Zetas cartel are displayed after they were seized in 2011. The cartel has earned a brutal reputation in Mexico and across Central America and is controlled by former special forces soldiers
Huge haul: Armed police guard 1.5 tons of cocaine that was seized as it was shipped from Columbia into Los Zetas's vast smuggling network that spans much of South America and the US
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