$10 Million Bounty Placed on Mexican Cartel Leaders Operating Near US Border

Federal authorities announced Thursday they will pay up to $10 million for information leading to the capture of two brothers who allegedly control Sinaloa cartel operations in Tijuana. The reward comes as one brother faces new terrorism-related charges in addition to existing drug trafficking allegations.

Federal authorities announced Thursday they will pay up to $10 million for information that leads to capturing two brothers who allegedly oversee Sinaloa cartel operations in Mexico’s Baja California region, including the border city of Tijuana.

The State Department’s bounty announcement coincided with prosecutors filing additional charges against 42-year-old Rene Arzate Garcia, nicknamed “La Rana” or “The Frog.” Beyond his original drug trafficking charges filed in San Diego, Garcia now faces accusations of conspiracy, narcoterrorism and providing material support to a designated foreign terrorist organization.

Federal officials are offering $5 million rewards for both Rene Arzate Garcia and his 52-year-old brother Alfonso Arzate Garcia, who goes by “Aquiles” or “Achilles.” Authorities do not know where either brother is currently located.

According to the State Department, the brothers’ strategic position makes them invaluable to cartel operations. “As controllers of a critical trafficking node in Tijuana at the U.S. border, the Arzate-Garcia brothers have become key essential components of the cartel’s command-and-control structure,” officials stated. “Their control of the Tijuana Plaza offers the Sinaloa Cartel a tactical advantage in maintaining dominance over rival organizations, ensuring no interruption to the busiest border crossing in the Western Hemisphere.”

The California-Mexico border region has become a violent contested territory between the Sinaloa organization and the Jalisco New Generation cartel.

This reward announcement follows by four days the Mexican military’s killing of Jalisco New Generation Cartel leader Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, known as “El Mencho,” effectively eliminating the head of what had grown into Mexico’s most influential cartel. His death represented the Mexican government’s most significant victory in demonstrating to the Trump administration its commitment to dismantling cartel networks.