MEXICO CITY (BNO NEWS) -- Mexican police have arrested a suspected cartel leader who is accused of ordering the murders of at least 1,500 people, including three U.S. consulate workers, in the northern state of Chihuahua, officials said on Sunday.

Eduardo Pequeño, head of the Mexican federal police anti-drug unit, said José Antonio Acosta Hernández, alias "El Diego", was arrested on Friday after exchanging information with the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration, El Universal reported. Federal officials identified Acosta as the head of the La Línea criminal organization, an armed branch of the Juárez drug cartel.

Pequeño added that the alleged drug leader was behind the murder of three people connected to the U.S. consulate near a border crossing in Ciudad Juárez last year. Acosta is also linked to several crimes in the city, such as the killings of municipal police officers who refused to cooperate with the organization in 2008 and members of rival groups who were at a rehabilitation center. In addition, he was allegedly involved in the killings of 14 people at a house party and the 2010 murder of the Chihuahua state prosecutor.

The Mexican government had previously offered a reward of 15 million Mexican pesos ($1.3 million) for information leading to his arrest, according to El Universal.

Ciudad Juárez is regarded as the most violent city in Mexico. As a critical site for drug traffickers, violence in the city has increased dramatically since President Felipe Calderón intensified the crackdown on organized crime in 2006.

According to government figures, a total of 15,273 drug-related crimes occurred in Mexico in 2010, while more than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Calderón began his campaign to fight organized crime.

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