WASHINGTON — U.S. Director of National Intelligence Tulsi Gabbard announced on Tuesday evening that the National Counterterrorism Center (NCTC) provided actionable intelligence to U.S. and Mexican law enforcement officials to successfully capture a boss of the Sinaloa Cartel Plaza known as “El Pato.”
“We will not allow cartel gangs who target Americans to roam freely, whether in the U.S. or across the border in Mexico. Our team at NCTC is on the watch preparing for the moment to strike,” Gabbard said in a Tuesday evening statement provided exclusively to Breitbart News ahead of its public release. “For more than two decades, NCTC has led the Intelligence Community in synchronizing information that can be turned into actionable intelligence for operators around the world to act on to go after those who threaten the safety and security of the American people. Now, thanks to President Trump’s leadership, we are surging resources against cartels and gang leadership, disrupting their networks, and working alongside our Mexican partners to make communities safer and protect American lives.”
The Office of the Director of National Intelligence (ODNI), which Gabbard leads, announced on Tuesday the arrest of Sinaloa Cartel Plaza Boss Leonardo Daniel Martinez Vera, who also known as “El Pato,” in Juarez, Mexico, on October 15, 2025, stemming from U.S. intelligence officials at the NCTC helping authorities locate him. The release states that El Pato is “allegedly responsible for leading a wide range of illicit activities, including drug trafficking, extortion, kidnapping, and murder.”
The ODNI release notes that the NCTC provided “timely and accurate location information to Mexican authorities” as the Mexican law enforcement officials “raided two houses of interest in search of El Pato.”
“He was later apprehended while attempting to flee the area, alongside three additional cartel money launderers,” the release states.
A photograph of El Pato in custody shows him in handcuffs standing next to several law enforcement officials in front of what appears to be a law enforcement or military vehicle. This photo, provided to Breitbart News from Gabbard’s office, has appeared in previous reports indicating El Pato was arrested:
But the new piece of information here in this exclusive is that U.S. counterterrorism officials were intricately involved in this operation, and it might be a sign of bigger movement like this on the horizon. El Pato’s capture comes after President Donald Trump earlier this year designated Mexican drug cartels Foreign Terrorist Organizations (FTOs), which allowed Gabbard to then dedicate NCTC resources to such matters as this and provide assistance to law enforcement partners on both sides of the border to target FTO-designated cartels like the Sinaloa Cartel. This particular effort on El Pato, the ODNI release notes, was the result of a nine-month-long collaboration between several agencies.
“The takedown of El Pato was the result of a successful, nine-month interagency collaboration between NCTC, Federal Bureau of Investigation, Joint Task Force-North, and the State Department’s Diplomatic Security Service. Texas’ Department of Public Safety Aircraft Operations Division and the Customs and Border Protection Air and Marine Operations units also provided intelligence support,” the release states. “This arrest was executed by a special unit in the Mexican Secretariat of National Defense’s (SEDENA) Group Aeromóvil de Fuerzas Especiales.”
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