MEXICO CITY , Mexico -LRB- CNN -RRB- -- A top Mexican drug cartel suspect has been arrested along with 12 accomplices , including five women , federal authorities said . Police guard suspected members of the Beltran Leyva cartel after they were arrested in a 2008 raid . Rodolfo Lopez Ibarra , known as El Nito and believed to be a top lieutenant in the Beltran Leyva cartel , was arrested Monday at an airport in Nuevo Leon state , said the Mexican National Defense secretary . Along with the suspects , officials said they also confiscated a Cessna 550 airplane , two cars , a large quantity of drugs and cash , firearms and a hand grenade . Soldiers acting on an anonymous tip arrested the eight men and five women , including one minor , National Defense said in a release Tuesday . Authorities said they confiscated 40,680 pesos -LRB- U.S. $ 3,150 -RRB- , $ 29,385 -LRB- 379,507 pesos -RRB- , 13 packages of marijuana weighing 13 kilograms -LRB- 29 pounds -RRB- , three computers and 28 cell phones . The Beltran Leyva cartel is one of the top drug organizations in Mexico , allied with the Gulf cartel in its battle against the Sinaloa organized crime syndicate . The Beltran Leyva group was formerly allied with the Sinaloa cartel , considered the largest drug-trafficking organization in the nation . The two other major drug organizations in Mexico are the Juarez and Tijuana cartels . According to media reports , someone alerted authorities when a tipster noticed heavily armed men waiting at the airport in northern Mexico . Ibarra was on a flight back from a baptism in Acapulco at which drug cartel chief Arturo Beltran Leyva had anointed him with the top post in Nuevo Leon , the news reports said . A published photo of Ibarra after his arrest shows him wearing a long-sleeved printed shirt and blue jeans , a forlorn look on his face as he gazes off to the side . Ibarra , 33 , was the second top suspect from the Beltran Leyva cartel arrested in recent weeks . In March , authorities announced the arrest of Hector Huerta Rios , also known as `` La Burra '' or `` El Junior . '' Like Ibarra , he was arrested in the city of San Pedro Garza Garcia in Nuevo Leon state , along Mexico 's border with the United States . Mexican officials also have recently announced the arrests of several other high-ranking cartel suspects as President Felipe Calderon wages a battle against a drug trade he says killed 6,500 people last year . About 2,000 more Mexicans are believed to have been killed this year . In April , authorities announced the arrest of Vicente Carrillo Leyva , a suspected leader of the Carrillo Fuentes drug cartel . A couple of weeks earlier , officials said they had arrested Sigifredo Najera Talamantes , a drug-trafficking suspect accused of attacking a U.S. consulate and killing Mexican soldiers . Talamantes , also known as `` El Canicon , '' also is suspected in attacks on a television station in Monterrey in Nuevo Leon , the state-run Notimex agency said . That same week , the Mexican military also arrested the son of a top drug cartel lieutenant .