Mexico City, January 15 (RHC-EFE, -- Authorities in northern Mexico apprehended 22 reputed members of the Los Zetas drug cartel, including seven people wanted in connection with a triple-murder, Nuevo Leon state Gov. Rodrigo Medina said Wednesday.

Both state and federal forces participated in the operation, which also involved the seizure of guns, vehicles and drugs, the governor said. "It's a very important arrest that was achieved on the basis of special intelligence work," he said at the conclusion of a public event.

The state's attorney general, Adrian de la Garza Santos, will hold a press conference Thursday to present the suspects, Medina said. The detainees are accused in at least 11 crimes committed since last May in Nuevo Leon, which borders Texas.

Seven of the 22 suspects have been linked to a December 22nd attack on a bar in San Nicolas, a suburb of Monterrey, the state capital. Three people were killed and 13 others wounded in the assault. Founded by deserters from an elite Mexican special forces unit, Los Zetas began their criminal career as the armed wing of the Gulf cartel.

In 2010, the Zetas broke with the Gulf outfit to go into business for themselves and they have carved out territories in 20 of Mexico's 32 states. The group runs kidnapping and extortion rackets alongside its core activity of drug trafficking.