(Photo : Photo by Scazon/Flickr)
Mexican officials had narrowed the location of Fuentes to a neighborhood in the northern city of Torreon and were able to take him into custody without a single shot being fired, National Security Commissioner Monte Alejandro Rubido told The Associated Press.
Fuentes, 51, allegedly headed the cartel after his brother, Amado, died in 1997.
The two had nicknames: Fuentes is known as "The General" or "The Viceroy," and his brother was known as "The Lord of the Skies" because he used to fly plane-loads of drugs into the U.S.
Both the U.S. and Mexico have been after Fuentes with a more than $1 million reward in each country for his arrest -- $2.2 million in Mexico and $5 million in the U.S.
The arrest of Fuentes is the second of a significant drug cartel figure in two weeks and is likely the result of international pressure after a recent violent incident involving students.
Mexican officials are investigating the disappearance of 43 students from a teachers college near Iguala, in Guerrero state, which resulted from a shooting incident.
On Sept. 26, a bus load of protesting students fighting against increases in university fees and education reform were shot at by police officers. Later in the day, an unidentified masked man shot at two taxis and a soccer team traveling by bus on a highway.
At first, 53 students were reported missing, but since then, some of have returned after coming out of hiding from the violent incident.
A mass grave of severely slaughtered bodies was found a few days later, and the almost two dozen police officers arrested as suspects, some of whom are charged with homicide, admitted being tied to a drug gang.
Officials suspect that police connected to Guerrero Unidos, a branch of a gang that formerly ruled the area, conspired with the gang to kill the students.
The international community and the United Nations have since put pressure on Mexico to take care of its drug gang problems.
Last week, authorities arrested another known drug lord, Hector Beltran Leyva.
But the most significant arrest of the Pena Nieto administration, which has been successful in capturing many high-profile drug lords, was Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman, the boss of Sinaloa cartel, last February.
Fuentes produced a fake ID during the traffic stop but eventually admitted his real identity before being arrested and flown, with a suspected bodyguard, to Mexico City.
In the U.S., Fuentes faces a 46-count indictment for trafficking cocaine and other serious charges, according to the U.S. State Department, the AP reported.
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