Mexico City, Feb 2 (IANS/EFE) A Mexican drug cartel member, who is accused of participating in the murders of 35 people in the Pacific resort city of Acapulco, has been arrested, authorities said Tuesday.

The arrest of 37-year-old Miguel Gomez Vazquez was carried out Monday in Acapulco’s Simon Bolivar neighbourhood, the federal public safety secretariat said in a communique.

Authorities link Gomez Vazquez to last September’s abduction and murder of 20 men visiting Acapulco from the neighbouring state of Michoacan, as well as to the decapitations of 15 people whose heads turned up Jan 8 in front of the city’s Plaza Sendero mall.

In Gomez Vazquez’s possession at the time of his arrest were an AK-47 assault rifle, quantities of marijuana, powder cocaine and crack and an automobile without license plates.

Authorities say the accused killer worked for the self-styled Independent Cartel of Acapulco, made up of former members of the criminal group led by Edgar Valdez Villarreal, alias ‘La Barbie’, until his arrest last August.