U.S. Intelligence Leads to Capture of Alleged Baby Trafficking Ringleader, Cartel-Linked 'La Diabla'

CBS News

In a joint U.S.-Mexican operation last month, authorities tracked down a cartel leader accused of running a gruesome infant trafficking ring in northern Mexico, according to senior intelligence officials.

Martha Alicia Mendez Aguilar, known as “La Diabla,” was captured on Sept. 2 after officials say the leader of the Jalisco New Generation Cartel, referred to by the U.S. as CJNG, lured a handful of pregnant women — often in vulnerable or impoverished circumstances — to remote areas. Once there, CJNG traffickers allegedly performed illegal cesarean operations on the women, killing the mothers and allegedly harvesting their organs postmortem, and placing newborns into illicit markets, according to senior intelligence officials. The infants were then sold to couples in the United States for as much as 250,000 pesos or roughly $14,000 each, according to the senior intelligence officials.

Mexican authorities were tipped off by intelligence provided by the National Counterterrorism Center, under the Office of the Director of National Intelligence. NCTC Director Joe Kent called the scheme an “example of what terrorist cartels will do to diversify their revenue streams and finance operations,” in a statement provided to CBS News, crediting NCTC analysts with tracking Aguilar’s patterns and locations, then coordinating with U.S. intelligence and Mexican partners on the ground.