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A top Gulf Cartel operative is behind bars after Mexican authorities found him outside a restaurant in Reynosa.

Mexico's Ministry of Public Safety (SSP) reported that Martín Armando Briones-Muñiz is behind bars.

Authorities report that Briones went by the alias "Eduardo Flores-Borrego" and the nickname "El Negro."

SSP officials report that Briones-Muniz is believed to be behind numerous standoffs, murders and kidnappings in Ciudad Mier and Reynosa.

The SSP reported that Briones-Muniz was paid by the Gulf Cartel to eliminate the groups rivals in the Zetas drug cartel.

Mexican federal police found Briones-Muniz and two other men in two cars outside a restaurant in Reynosa's Colonia Las Fuentes on Friday.

Federal police officers seized assault rifles, a fragmentation grenade, ammunition and other equipment from the two cars.

SSP officials identified the other two men as 40-year-old Jose Alfredo Guerrero-Villalpando and 23-year-old Hector Enrique Zapata-Escamilla.

Authorities said Guerrero-Villalpando goes by the nickname "El Arlin" and worked as a Gulf Cartel assassin.

Zapata-Escamilla, who goes by the nickname "El Chisqueado," also worked as an assassin but was responsible for monitoring the movement of authorities throughout Tamaulipas.