Pubdate: Sun, 1 Jun 2003 Source: Pueblo Chieftain (CO) Copyright: 2003 The Star-Journal Publishing Corp. Contact: http://www.chieftain.com/ Details: http://www.mapinc.org/media/1613 Author: Sergio Haro, Associated Press GUNMEN IN MEXICAN BORDER CITY KILL BROTHER-IN-LAW OF SUSPECTED DRUG MONEY LAUNDERER MEXICALI, Mexico - Gunmen shot and killed a rancher whose brother-in-law had suspected ties to Mexico's most-violent drug smuggling gang as he drove his pickup down a crowded street in this sweltering border city, authorities said Tuesday. Witnesses told investigators that 51-year-old Manuel Sanchez was shot several times in the head in broad daylight as he passed a government building Monday. Seconds later, a white sport-utility vehicle sped away from the scene, witnesses said. It was discovered hours later, abandoned in another part of the city, its floor and seats littered with bullet casings, said Diana Escalante, a spokeswoman for the state attorney general's office in Baja California, where Mexicali is located. The suspected getaway vehicle was reported stolen recently in a suburb of San Diego, California, Escalante said. Sanchez owned a string of ranches outside Mexicali. He was the brother-in-law of Jesus Lopez, a former official at the Mexicali office of the state Ministry of Education who is suspected of moving narcotics and drug money for the Arellano Felix gang, a smuggling syndicate that controls drug corridors between Tijuana and San Diego. During a crackdown on suspected Arellano Felix smugglers and associates in Mexicali in February 2001, police raided Lopez's home and discovered more than US$2 million in cash. Lopez disappeared when authorities went looking to question him in connection with drug smuggling and money laundering charges. Lopez was fired from the education ministry for missing work while on the run, but was never charged with wrongdoing. In November, he resurfaced and filed a wrongful-dismissal suit against the state education department. Mexicali, 120 miles (190 kilometers) east of Tijuana on the border with Calexico, California, has long been considered a hotbed of illegal drug smuggling. Sanchez's slaying brought the number of shooting deaths here to 53 so far this year. - --- MAP posted-by: Terry Liittschwager