Mexican authorities on Tuesday arrested a former mayor and his wife both suspected of masterminding an attack that left six people dead and 43 students missing in September.

Police detained Iguala former mayor Jose Luis Abarca and first lady Maria de los Angeles Pineda early Tuesday after a raid at a house in the middle class neighborhood of Iztapalapa.

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The month-long surveillance of three houses in the neighborhood culminated with the couple's arrest after authorities were able to confirm their whereabouts by trailing Noemi Berumen, a known associate suspected of aiding and abetting the pair's escape, according to Attorney General Jesus Murillo Karam.

Berumen was also arrested during the raid.

However, even with the arrest of suspected masterminds Abarca and Pineda, the fate of 43 missing students remains unknown.

So far, authorities were able to uncover clandestine mass graves and 38 bodies through the course of their investigation but none have been linked to the missing youths. Officials are hopeful the couple's arrest would help the search and shed light on the missing students.

Abarca and his wife had allegedly ordered a police attack to prevent a students from disrupting a political affair.

The pair has long been suspected of having ties with the Guerreros Unidos, a local drug cartel under the Beltran Levya. Sources claim Pineda was a major cartel player, owing to her family's history with drug gangs.

Two of Pineda's brothers were reportedly part of former President Felipe Calderon's most wanted drug trafficker list until they were killed in 2009, while a third brother, Salomon, was believed to have controlled northern Guerrero for the cartel, the Associated Press relayed.

According to Murillo Karam, Abarca received bribe money of at least US$220,000 every couple of weeks used to pay off a corrupt police force.

The missing youths are students of a rural teacher's college known for carrying out radical protests.

Abarca believed the students planned on disrupting a political event for his wife, who intended to succeed him as mayor. He then mobilized local police to arrest the students after news surfaced they had commandeered four buses to bring them to said event, Murillo Karam said.

TagsMexico, missing students, Iguala, Jose Luis Abarca, Maria de los Angeles Pineda, Mexican drug cartel, Guerreros Unidos, Guerrero