Mexico Says Supplier for Sinaloa Drug Gang Is Arrested MEXICO CITY - The federal police said Tuesday that they had arrested a major operative for Mexico's most wanted drug trafficker, part of a string of recent arrests that suggested that the authorities had redoubled efforts to capture him and break up the gang he commands, the nation's most powerful. The police said they had captured Jaime Herrera Herrera, known as "the old man," on Monday and accused him of being one of the main manufacturers and distributors of methamphetamine for the Sinaloa gang, which is led by Mexico's most wanted man, Joaquín Guzmán, better known as El Chapo, or Shorty. Mr. Herrera, 43, is also wanted by the United States on drug trafficking charges, the police said. Mexico has made a concerted effort to take down top leaders of criminal organizations, saying 22 of the 37 most important kingpins have been captured or killed since 2009. American officials have said President Felipe Calderón has pressed for more high-profile captures, even as a growing body of analysts suggest that the country needs to focus more on shoring up its justice system to weaken the groups. Many arrests have come through tightening bonds with American authorities. David H. Petraeus, director of the Central Intelligence Agency, and Alejandro Poiré, Mexico's interior secretary and former head of intelligence, recently exchanged visits. But more than anything, a recent string of arrests of associates of Mr. Guzmán has fed impressions here that the authorities may be getting closer to the man himself. For Mr. Calderón in this presidential election year, Mr. Guzmán's capture would be something akin to the killing of Osama bin Laden. The public has grown increasingly wary of the drug war here, which the government said last month had led to the deaths of more than 47,000 people since 2006, when Mr. Calderón began an offensive against the gangs as violence increased. Mr. Calderón has said that the authorities have come close to capturing Mr. Guzmán, but that he eluded them and is believed to be hiding in remote mountains in northwest Mexico. Edgardo Buscaglia, a senior scholar at Columbia University and longtime researcher of organized crime in Mexico and elsewhere, said, "The capture of Chapo would represent huge political capital" both for Mr. Calderón, whose party is trailing in presidential polls, and for the Obama administration, anxious to show results of the increasing United States involvement in Mexico's drug war. Still, Mexican officials have denied political motives behind the crackdown. Alejandro Hope, until recently a senior intelligence officer for Mexico and now a security consultant, said knocking out kingpins depended more on the intelligence of the moment than a strategy to single out one group. "What is clear is you cannot schedule the capture of capos," he said. But targeting them does not always weaken the organizations, which often quickly replace lieutenants. "Some, like logistics guys, are easy to replace," he said. Others with more expertise, like the financial guys, are much harder and a bigger, more difficult target. Damien Cave contributed reporting.