The golden coffin of “El Mencho” , the late leader of the Jalisco New Generation cartel (CJNG), had barely been lowered into the ground when the Mexican military dealt a second blow to the very top of the organisation this week.

As special forces descended on a ranch in the state of Nayarit, grainy drone footage showed El Mencho’s possible successor, Audias Flores, alias “El Jardinero”, being hauled from a drainage pipe he had tried to hide in, all without a shot being fired.

With two strikes in two months, the Mexican state is apparently intensifying its operations against high-profile targets just as Mexico prepares to welcome fans for the World Cup – and it has so far avoided the violent infighting that previous operations against such kingpins have triggered.

Wanted poster for 'El Jardinero'. Photograph: US Department of State/Reuters

“We’re yet to see any fractures in the CJNG,” said Victoria Dittmar, a researcher for the Insight Crime thinktank.…