Authorities in Mexico claim that they have captured one of the top leaders of the Knights Templar cartel.

Reuters press reports say that Dionisio Loya Plancarte, known as "El Tio" (The Uncle) was captured by Mexican forces on Monday in what is one of the first captures of senior level leadership in the cartel that split from another cartel shortly after the crackdown began in the western state of Michoacan.

It was in this state that Mexico's "war on drugs" in Mexico began, a war which has since claimed thousands of lives in the country south of the United States. While the majority of violence after the escalation took place in border territories adjacent to the U.S., sporadic violence has continued in this state that is situated roughly in the middle of the country.

In another announcement on the same subject, the government also said that the self-defense militias that have sprung up to battle the cartels in areas where federal oversight has been lacking will be incorporated into the anti-cartel arsenal.

"The self-defense forces will become institutionalized, when they are integrated into the Rural Defense Corps," the Interior Department said in a statement according to the AP.

But this announcement has made some in the country nervous, as the vigilantes themselves have been accused of acting in concert with rival cartels. Making matters more difficult Is the fact that some of the vigilante groups have been allowed to operate vehicle checkpoints on roads and accost drivers while uniformed Mexican authorities have been present, and did little more than keep an eye on what was going on.

"The fact that the government had initially opted to support the self-defense groups was the equivalent of fostering anarchy," said Armand Peschard-Sverdrup of the Center for Strategic and International Studies to the Dallas Morning News. "Given the level of integration between organized crime and the social fabric of some of these remote communities, the government's initial decision revealed a lack of thorough understanding on the part of those government decision-makers.