TIJUANA – A special federal task force captured several men believed to be high-ranking members of the Arellano Felix cartel amid gunfire in a pre-dawn raid Friday, according the local Mexican military command.

The suspects were gambling around 2 a.m. in a room at Caliente Casino, owned by former mayor Jorge Hank Rhon.

Alfonso Duarte Mujica, local military commander, said at a press conference Friday morning that one of those captured was Pedro Ignacio Zazueta, known as “El Pit,” believed to be one of the leaders of the Arellano cartel.

Zazueta is a lieutenant to Fernando Sanchez Arellano, known as “El Ingeniero” (the engineer), who runs the cartel since the death or capture of the Arellano brothers, Duarte Mujica said.

The task force was composed of agents from the federal police, the federal attorney general's office and the army. The agents also seized a car, high-caliber weapons, cartridges and uniforms of the municipal police department and the federal attorney general's office.

No other information was immediately known about the others arrested, only that they are believed to provide security for Zazueta.

Two of them were flown to Mexico City for questioning, said the military commander. He said that details of the operation would be provided from there.

A witness to the arrests, who requested anonymity, said that the special agents wore hoods and walked directly toward their targets – four men dressed in jackets and ties who were gambling in one of the rooms at the casino.

“Many people started to scream when the federal agents arrived,” he said. “One of the agents yelled at them to 'shut up!' or they would be taken, too.”

“I ducked when I heard gunshots,” the witness continued. “I stayed down until the agents ordered us to get up and began to asked our names and what were we doing there at that hour.”

He said no one appeared to have been injured.

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