Mexican security forces captured a top commander of the deadly Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG) after an enormous military operation tracked him down. Audias Flores Silva — known as “El Jardinero” or The Gardener — was found hiding in a drainage pipe after about 500 members of the security forces closed in on him in the western state of Nayarit on April 27, 2026.
Officials said Flores, 45, was considered the right-hand man of Mexico’s former most-wanted criminal, CJNG leader Rubén “El Mencho” Oseguera Cervantes, who died in February after suffering injuries in a battle with Soldiers trying to arrest him. Flores, a regional commander who controlled swaths of CJNG territory along Mexico’s Pacific coast, was among a small number of CJNG senior figures who were viewed as possible successors to El Mencho.
Omar García Harfuch, Mexico’s secretary of security and citizen protection, announced Flores’ capture on social media and praised the “bravery, discipline and dedication” of Secretariat of the Navy (MARINA) security forces. In addition, operatives from the Secretariat of Security and Citizen Protection and the Attorney General’s Office participated in the coordinated operation to find and apprehend Flores. It was not immediately clear if he would face charges in Mexico but García Harfuch said Flores was wanted for extradition by United States authorities.
The operation was planned, developed and executed after 19 months of monitoring Flores. An exchange of information with U.S. agencies augmented intelligence information gathered by Mexican forces, a MARINA news release said.
Government operatives learned that Flores was sheltered in a cabin near El Mirador, Nayarit, with a security team of more than 60 people and about 30 trucks. Given the size of the challenge, the agencies executed a massive operation, with intelligence, surveillance and reconnaissance aircraft, four close support helicopters, two troop transport helicopters, four fixed-wing aircraft, 120 direct action troops, and 400 naval elements in support roles, the news release said. When the government forces arrived, Flores’ security complement fled in different directions as a distraction. With aerial and ground tracking, however, government forces located Flores when he tried to hide in a cement drainage pipe.
MARINA shared a video that showed helicopters hovering above the cabin and armed officers closing in on the pipe, from which Flores’ legs are seen sticking out. Unlike El Mencho, Flores did not put up a fight. “The operation was performed surgically, without the need to fire a single shot, without deaths, injuries or collateral damage,” a MARINA news release said.
The U.S. State Department had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to Flores’ capture. Ronald Johnson, the U.S. ambassador to Mexico, described the arrest as “an important step against those who profit from fentanyl and drive violence in our communities.”
“Actions like this strengthen security and contribute to dismantling criminal networks that threaten our communities,” Johnson wrote on the social platform X. “Together, we achieve results that make our nations safer.”
After Flores’ capture, President Claudia Sheinbaum’s security Cabinet said it deployed extra forces in Nayarit to prevent a repeat of the violence that struck eight states when El Mencho was killed. Officials said cartel members set six vehicles and six businesses on fire in retaliation for Flores’ arrest, but Nayarit’s governor said there were no roadblocks and the situation was calm.