Mexican border state authorities arrested a top Gulf Cartel lieutenant a few miles south of the Texas border. The cartel operator is known as the second in command of one of the factions engaged in a fierce turf war.

The arrest took place on Tuesday afternoon along the highway that connects the border city of Rio Bravo with Valle Hermoso, information provided to Breitbart Texas by the Tamaulipas government revealed.

A special forces unit with the Tamaulipas State Police tracked down a pickup truck driven by Hector Flavio Sarmiento Juarez. Rather than stop when authorities tried to pull him over, Sarmiento sped up leading police on a short high-speed chase. During his attempt to flee, Sarmiento threw several road spikes onto the road in an attempt to blow out the tires of the police vehicles in pursuit.

Eventually, Sarmiento pulled over and tried to run away but authorities arrested him. Inside his vehicle, police found more than 500 pounds of marijuana. Authorities turned him over to federal prosecutors for further investigation and prosecution.

Law enforcement sources consulted by Breitbart Texas identify Sarmiento as the right-hand man of Evaristo “El Vaquero” Cruz Sanchez, the leader of the Matamoros faction of the Gulf Cartel. As Breitbart Texas reported, El Vaquero and his men are fighting with the Reynosa faction of the Gulf Cartel over control of lucrative drug trafficking and human smuggling territories. Vaquero has managed to push the Los Metros further west and has taken control of the border city of Rio Bravo, just south of Donna, Texas.

Ildefonso Ortiz is an award-winning journalist with Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Brandon Darby and senior Breitbart management. You can follow him on Twitter and on Facebook. He can be contacted at Iortiz@breitbart.com.

Brandon Darby is the managing director and editor-in-chief of Breitbart Texas. He co-founded Breitbart Texas’ Cartel Chronicles project with Ildefonso Ortiz and senior Breitbart management. Follow him on Twitter and Facebook. He can be contacted at bdarby@breitbart.com.