As head of the Knights Templar gang, Servando Gomez was Mexico's most wanted drug lordMr Gomez, leader of the Knights Templar drug cartel, was arrested in Morelia in Michoacan state without a shot fired, police officials said.Mexican police say they have captured the country's most wanted drug lord, Servando "La Tuta" Gomez.
Previously a school teacher, he became one of Mexico's most powerful dug lords and took control of Michoacan.
His capture is a coup for the government of Enrique Pena Nieto in its fight against the drug cartels.
A police spokesman told local media the arrest followed months of intelligence work in the region.
Police reportedly seized nearby properties in the weeks leading up Mr Gomez's capture and arrested several of his associates.
Meth trade
Known by his nickname "La Tuta", Mr Gomez founded and led the ruthless Knights Templar cartel.
He evaded capture for years while other senior members of the gang and rival drug lords were captured or killed.
By the time of his arrest, he had a $2 million (£1.3 million) bounty on his head.
Knights Templar was primarily a drug cartel and it controlled a large part of the lucrative methamphetamine trade in western Mexico.
But it was also known for mixing in business and politics in the region and even took effective control over the state's international port, Lazaro Cardenas, making millions of dollars from illegal mining of iron ore.
A federal government offensive in 2013 saw the Pena Nieto administration wrest back control of Michoacan state from the Knights Templar and rival gangs.
As leader of the biggest cartel in the region, Mr Gomez became the prime target of Mr Pena Nieto's crackdown.
The administration has been criticised for failing to tackle the drug gangs, with vigilante groups forming to take on the dealers illegally.
Vigilante gangs formed to combat the drug dealers have also clashed with police
Mr Gomez's arrest comes just over a year after the capture of the country's most notorious drug lord, Joaquin "Shorty" Guzman, head of the Sinaloa Cartel.
Shortly after Guzman's capture, Mexican security forces killed two of Mr Gomez's senior deputies, Enrique "Kike" Plancarte and Nazario Moreno, known as "The Craziest One".
Unlike many rival gang leaders who carefully avoided the limelight, Mr Gomez regularly gave media interviews and railed against the government in Youtube videos.
Mr Gomez began life in the drug trade as an small-time marijuana dealer, before joining a Michoacan gang called La Familia and rising to a senior level. A split in La Familia led him to form Knights Templar.
A father of at least seven, Mr Gomez was also wanted by US authorities in connection with the 2009 murder of 12 Mexican federal police officers.
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