Mexico: 'Jalisco crime boss' Quintero held by police Published duration 14 October 2015

image copyright Mexican Police image caption Daniel Quintero Riestra was arrested on a boat off Cancun

Mexican security officials say they have captured a man they accuse of being behind a crime wave in western Jalisco state.

Daniel Quintero Riestra was arrested on a boat just off Isla Mujeres, a popular tourist spot near Cancun.

Mr Quintero has been charged with kidnapping and murder.

Prosecutors believe he is behind the murder of the Minister of Tourism for Jalisco, Jose de Jesus Gallegos, who was shot dead in Guadalajara in 2013.

'Priority target'

Security official Renato Sales said Mr Quintero had been arrested without a shot being fired.

image copyright Getty Images image caption In May, an army helicopter was shot down in Jalisco

He said Mr Quintero was one of a list of 122 people seen as "priority targets" by the Mexican government.

Mr Sales said Mr Quintero headed a cartel responsible for much of the criminal activity in Guadalajara, the capital of Jalisco state.

He did not name the cartel, but the area is controlled by a group which calls itself Jalisco New Generation.

While not as powerful as the Zetas or the Sinaloa cartel, Jalisco New Generation demonstrated its strength in May when it shot down an army helicopter in Jalisco.

Six soldiers were killed in the attack.

Even though the Mexican security forces have succeeded in arresting a number of senior cartel leaders over the past years, cartel-related violence remains a huge problem.

It is thought that about 100,000 people have been killed in the past decade as a result of cartel-related violence in Mexico.