Elite El Paso Border Patrol team helps capture fugitive Danelo Cavalcante in Pennsylvania

A search dog from an elite U.S. Border Patrol squad from El Paso is being credited with helping capture convicted killer Danelo Cavalcante after a nearly two week manhunt in rural Pennsylvania.

The K-9 unit was part of the Border Patrol Tactical Unit, known as BORTAC, which provides immediate response to high-risk incidents across the United States.

Cavalcante was apprehended early Wednesday morning by a search dog named Yoda and a team of about 20 to 25 law enforcement officers, including the Pennsylvania State Police, Border Patrol agents from El Paso and other state and federal agents.

A U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration aircraft utilizing FLIR (thermal) sensors picked up a heat signal leading to the ground team to surround the fugitive, who was armed with a rifle and still tried to crawl through underbrush, Pennsylvania State Police said. The Border Patrol team released its dog, which helped subdue Cavalcante.

A photo of the capture showed Cavalcante wearing a muddied stolen Philadelphia Eagles hoodie.

BORTAC is similar to a special forces team, trains at Fort Bliss and is under the Border Patrol Special Operations Group headquartered in El Paso, according to agency materials.

BORTAC was created in 1984 in response to rioting at immigration detention facilities. The command for the agency's Mobile Response Unit is also based El Paso.

In 2020, BORTAC was among federal forces deployed during riots and protests in Portland and other cities. In 2015, a member of the elite unit based in El Paso shot and killed fugitive convicted murderer Richard Matt, who had been the focus of a massive three-week manhunt following a prison escape in upstate New York.

This article originally appeared on El Paso Times: Danelo Cavalcante captured with help from El Paso Border Patrol unit