MEXICO CITY – A suspect has been arrested by federal law enforcement agents for the murder of reporter Javier Valdez, who was killed last year in the northwestern Mexican state of Sinaloa, Government Secretary Alfonso Navarrete said.

The unidentified suspect was captured on Monday in a joint operation staged by the Federal Police, the National Security Commission and the Attorney General’s Office, Navarrete said in a Twitter post.

No additional details were provided by the federal official.

The 50-year-old Valdez, a journalist and writer, was gunned down on May 15, 2017, in Sinaloa’s capital, Culiacan, while walking near the offices of Riodoce, a newsweekly he helped found.

Valdez, known for his coverage of Mexico’s drug war, was honored in 2011 by the US-based Committee to Protect Journalists with the International Press Freedom Award.

Later that year, Valdez and his colleagues at Riodoce received a Maria Moors Cabot Prize from the Columbia University School of Journalism.

Valdez, who also worked as a correspondent for the Mexico City daily La Jornada in Sinaloa, wrote several books about Mexico’s drug war, including “Narcoperiodismo,” “Levantones,” “Con una granada en la boca” and “Huerfanos del narco.”