Pubdate: Sat, 13 Apr 2002
Source: Washington Times (DC)
Copyright: 2002 News World Communications, Inc.
Contact:  http://www.washingtontimes.com/
Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/492
Author: Jerry Seper
Bookmark: http://www.mapinc.org/find?194 (Hutchinson, Asa)

MEXICAN RAID SNARES OFFICIALS

Mexican soldiers, military police and federal prosecutors arrested nearly 
40 top government officials during a raid on a state police academy near 
Tijuana, taking into custody that city's police chief and the commandant of 
the State Judicial Police in Tijuana.

Those arrested during the Thursday raid, which included the assistant state 
attorney general of Baja California, were charged with corruption and face 
pending trials in what U.S. authorities described as a crackdown by Mexican 
President Vicente Fox on drug trafficking.

"The initiative taken by the government of Mexico under the Fox 
administration against drug traffickers, and those assisting drug 
traffickers, is unprecedented," said Asa Hutchinson, head of the U.S. Drug 
Enforcement Administration.

"The government of Mexico continues to send a clear message that drug 
traffickers do not rule Mexico and that laws will be enforced," Mr. 
Hutchinson said. "Most significantly, these arrests follow the dismantling 
of the leadership of the violent Arellano-Felix organization and will 
reduce the possibility that another organization will dominate the Tijuana 
area."

In March, Mexican authorities captured Benjamin Arellano-Felix, the leader 
of one of the most violent drug-smuggling organizations in the world. The 
DEA said he was the patriarch of a drug cartel that shipped tons of cocaine 
and marijuana annually into the United States, while laundering millions of 
dollars in illicit profits.

Indicted in 1992 in California for cocaine trafficking and money-laundering 
violations, the suspected drug boss has been a top priority of DEA and 
Mexican authorities ever since.

Arellano-Felix, 49, was arrested by Mexican army units March 9 outside 
Puebla. He had eluded Mexican authorities for more than 10 years.

He is being held at the maximum-security La Palma federal prison near 
Mexico City.

His brother, Ramon Eduardo Arellano-Felix, 37, who was described by Mexican 
and U.S. authorities as the cartel's chief enforcer, reportedly was killed 
during a Feb. 10 shootout with Mexican police in Mazatlan.

The Arellano-Felix organization controls drug trafficking into the United 
States along the westernmost part of the U.S.-Mexico border. The 
organization smuggles marijuana and cocaine into the United States, as well 
as large quantities of heroin and methamphetamines. It is also believed to 
distribute an estimated $1 million weekly in bribes to Mexican authorities.

Based in Tijuana, the ring has been blamed for numerous assassinations of 
police, prosecutors, judges and rivals in the drug trade. Ramon Eduardo 
Arellano-Felix had been on the FBI's 10 Most Wanted list since 1998, with a 
$2 million reward for his capture.

Among those arrested in the Mexican raid at the academy near the border 
city of Tecate were Carlos Otal, Tijuana's police chief; Rogelio 
Delgado-Neri, assistant state attorney general of Baja California; Sergio 
Riedel-Borico, first commandant of the State Judicial Police in Tijuana; 
and Armando Martinez-Duarte, first subcommandant of the Mexican Federal 
Attorney General's Office in Mexicali.
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