MEXICO CITY , Mexico ( CNN ) -- The Mexican army has arrested a top drug cartel chief and four of his bodyguards , the government announced Wednesday . Suspected drug kingpin Hector Huerta Rios faces members of the press Wednesday in Mexico City . Hector Huerta Rios , also known as `` La Burra '' or `` El Junior , '' was arrested Tuesday in the city of San Pedro Garza Garcia in Nuevo Leon state , along Mexico 's border with the United States . The state-run Notimex news agency reported the announcement , citing a news conference held by the secretary of national defense and the attorney general 's office . Huerta was flown to Mexico City on Tuesday night to face federal charges . Federal officials showed the four suspects to the media in a news conference Wednesday . Video footage on CNN affiliate Televisa shows Huerta flanked on each side by two other suspects . He is looking straight ahead , a solemn countenance on his mustachioed face . Hooded soldiers are stationed to the sides and behind the suspects . Huerta is a suspect in the September 2006 shooting death of Marcelo Garza y Garza , the head of the State Agency of Investigations , news reports said . News of Huerta 's capture made the front pages of El Porvenir , La Prensa and El Milenio newspapers . Huerta 's arrest came one day after Mexican authorities announced rewards of up to $ 2 million for information leading to the capture of top cartel operatives . Huerta , considered by authorities as the principal operator for the Beltran-Leyva cartel in northern Mexico , was on the government 's list . The reward for his capture was 15 million pesos ( $ 1 million ) . His arrest resulted from intelligence operations though , and not from a tip , so officials will not pay a reward , El Porvenir reported , citing a military official . During the arrest , officials confiscated 12 cars and four weapons , one of them gold-plated , El Milenio reported . Huerta 's capture was the third major arrest announced in the past week . Mexican authorities announced the arrest last week of Sigifredo Najera Talamantes , a drug trafficking suspect accused of attacking a U.S. consulate and killing Mexican soldiers . Talamantes , also known as `` El Canicon , '' also is suspected of attacks on a television station in Monterrey in Nuevo Leon , Notimex said . The Mexican military also arrested the son of a top drug cartel lieutenant last week . Authorities on both sides of the U.S.-Mexico border blame drug cartels for a surge in violence in the region . About 6,500 people died last year in the drug war in Mexico , Mexican President Felipe Calderon said this month . On Tuesday , the Mexican attorney general 's office said 10,475 people were killed since Calderon took office in December 2006 . Nearly 10 percent of those were police . U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will visit Mexico on Wednesday for two days of meetings with top officials , with the drug war heading the list of topics to be discussed . Clinton will make clear the United States is committed to working with Mexico and helping it come out of the drug war stronger , aides said . The Obama administration announced Tuesday it is sending hundreds of extra federal agents and crime-fighting equipment to the border with Mexico . The plan , developed by the departments of Justice and Homeland Security , calls for doubling the number of border security task force teams as well as moving other federal agents , equipment and resources to the border .
Suspected principal operator for Beltran-Leyva drug cartel in Mexico captured . Four bodyguards arrested in addition to Hector Huerta Rios . Mexico offers rewards for information leading to capture of drug cartel operatives . Score: 6