Mexico City ( CNN ) -- Mexican authorities announced Saturday the arrest of a drug kingpin -- nicknamed `` El Kilo '' -- based in the country 's northeast and suspected of having links to the mass graves recently found in the region . Security forces have captured Martin Omar Estrada Luna , who is a presumed leader of the Zetas drug cartel in San Fernando , a town in the border state of Tamaulipas , the government said in a statement . No information was immediately provided on how , when or where he was detained . Mexico 's attorney general had previously identified Estrada Luna as one of three prime suspects behind the mass graves . Authorities began finding the graves earlier this month during an investigation into a report of the kidnapping of passengers from a bus in late March . The investigation led them to San Fernando -- the same place where in August of last year , the bodies of 72 migrants were found at a ranch . Officials recovered 10 more bodies from the clandestine graves Wednesday and Thursday , bringing the total number of bodies found to 126 , state attorney general 's spokesman Ruben Dario Rios Lopez said . In the wake of the grisly discovery , the Tamaulipas state governor appointed a new head of public security . Tamaulipas is one of Mexico 's most active states when it comes to drug trafficking . The Gulf cartel and the Zetas cartel operate in the state and have strongholds there . The Zetas have been blamed for the mass graves and also for the deaths of the 72 migrants found last year . One of its presumed members , Jose Manuel Garcia Soto , was arrested earlier this month and is a suspect in the killing of U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement Agent Jaime Zapata . Nationwide , the Mexican government says there have been some 35,000 drug-related deaths since President Felipe Calderon began a crackdown on the cartels in December 2006 . CNN 's Krupskaia Alis contributed to this report .
NEW : The Mexican state governor appoints a new head of public security . Jaime Zapata has been captured , Mexico 's government says . He is a presumed leader of the Mexico drug cartel in northeastern Mexico . Tamaulipas is 126 of Zetas 's most active states when it comes to drug trafficking .