Pubdate: Thu, 20 Dec 2001 Source: Denver Rocky Mountain News (CO) Copyright: 2001, Denver Publishing Co. Contact: http://www.rockymountainnews.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/371 MEXICO ARRESTS ALLEGED DRUG LORD ON U.S. EXTRADITION REQUEST Miguel Caro Quintero, an alleged drug cartel leader who appears on the U.S. Drug Kingpin list, was arrested Thursday in northern Mexico and was being held on a U.S. extradition request. Mexico's Justice Department announced the arrest at a news conference, and transferred the burly Quintero to Mexico City aboard a plane with the intention of sending him to the United States, where he faces money laundering and drug charges. Caro Quintero has allegedly headed a cocaine- and marijuana-trafficking ring based in the northern state of Sonora since 1985, the same year in which his brother, Rafael, was imprisoned for the torture-murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration. U.S. officials have called Miguel Caro Quintero one of the primary figures in the drug trade, saying he controlled a large portion of trafficking along Mexico's northwestern border with the United States. Caro Quintero is wanted on a several U.S. charges, most recently a 1994 indictment in Arizona alleging money laundering and marijuana trafficking. The United States issued a provisional warrant asking Mexican authorities to arrest him more than two years ago. Caro Quintero was recently believed to be living on a ranch near Hermosillo, Sonora, 165 miles south of the Arizona border. He was arrested Thursday in Los Mochis, in the neighboring state of Sinaloa, while driving on a city street. Authorities reported he was carrying a pistol at the time of his arrest, and prosecutors were considering bringing illegal weapons possession charges. He was being held at a maximum security prison just outside Mexico City. Mexican authorities arrested him in 1992 but the Mexican charges against him were later dropped. In a decision earlier this year, Mexico's Supreme Court overturned the last legal barriers to extraditing Mexican citizens to the United States. The U.S. Drug Kingpin Act allows the U.S. government to freeze bank accounts and other assets of people it identifies as drug traffickers. It also penalizes companies that do business with those on the list. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager