Pubdate: Mon, 11 Mar 2002
Source: Wall Street Journal (US)
Copyright: 2002 Dow Jones & Company, Inc
Contact:  http://www.wsj.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/487
Author: Jose De Cordoba

MEXICO CAPTURES THE MASTERMIND OF KEY DRUG CARTEL, ENDING REIGN

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico said it had dismantled the country's most ruthless 
and powerful drug cartel after capturing its alleged mastermind, Benjamin 
Arellano Felix, and confirming the death of his brother, Ramon, the 
cartel's brutal enforcer.

In Washington, Asa Hutchinson, the head of the Drug Enforcement 
Administration, congratulated Mexico on the capture. "We've been seeking 
his apprehension for years," he said. "It was our top priority." Mr. 
Hutchinson said he hoped Mexican authorities could now reclaim the Tijuana 
area, the base for the Arellano Felix cartel, which the gang has held in 
"almost a death grip."

U.S. officials said they expect Mr. Arellano Felix to be extradited to the 
U.S., where he faces drug-trafficking charges.

Mexican President Vicente Fox called the capture "a great triumph for 
justice" that showed his government is serious about fighting the drug trade.

Army troops apprehended Mr. Arellano Felix early Saturday morning in a raid 
in a middle-class suburb of the city of Puebla, 65 miles from Mexico City, 
where he had been masquerading as an ordinary businessman. Mexican Attorney 
General Rafael Macedo de la Concha said the alleged drug dealer's detention 
could prove a fatal blow to the cartel, which dominates the drug trade 
along Mexico's Pacific coast.

But analysts said the flow of drugs to the U.S. was likely to continue 
unabated, as other narcotics gangs pick up the slack. The cartel could even 
regroup.

After his arrest, Mexican officials said, Mr. Arellano Felix confirmed to 
interrogators that his brother Ramon, using a false identity, had been 
killed in the Pacific resort city of Mazatlan in a gunfight with police 
last month. Ramon, whose picture is on the Federal Bureau of 
Investigation's 10 Most Wanted list, next to that of Osama bin Laden, is 
believed to have been the enforcer of the cartel, allegedly orchestrating 
or carrying out the killings of dozens of people, including judges, police 
chiefs and the Roman Catholic Cardinal of Guadalajara.

DNA testing to conclusively prove the death of Ramon Arellano Felix hasn't 
yet been completed.

U.S. and Mexican officials said the Arellano Felix organization has spent 
millions of dollars to bribe generals, government officials and police 
chiefs. In a violent business, they are considered the most violent of 
Mexico's drug gangs, as well as the most technologically sophisticated, 
using an array of listening devices to help keep law enforcement at bay.
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