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.
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MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager