SÃO PAULO: Brazilian police have arrested an alleged Mexican drug boss, federal prosecutors said on Wednesday, in a blow to one of the most powerful organizations in Mexico’s criminal underworld.

According to the arrest warrant, police detained José González Valencia, 42, a leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel (CJNG), with the intention of fulfilling a US extradition request.

Once a little-known gang, the CJNG has grown in recent years to challenge the Sinaloa Cartel of captured kingpin Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán for primacy of the drug trade in Mexico.

González Valencia was arrested at a beach resort near the coastal city of Fortaleza and brought to the headquarters of the federal police for the state of Ceará, Brazilian prosecutors said in a statement.

González Valencia had been living in neighbouring Bolivia for two years after fleeing Mexico and had entered Brazil as a tourist using a Bolivian passport, the statement added.

An official at the state prosecutor’s office in the western Mexican state of Jalisco said González Valencia is the brother of Abigael González Valencia, a CJNG leader captured in February 2015.

The CJNG established itself in Jalisco, and the state serves as a base for much of its operations.

The Jalisco official said González Valencia was due to be extradited straight to the United States from Brazil.