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 News Around the Republic of Mexico | February 2006 
Mexican Authorities Capture Drug Lord Sought in U.S.
 Associated Press
| | Mexico's Defense Secretary Gerardo Clemente Garcia, left, and Mexico's Attorney General, Daniel Cabeza de Vaca Mexico, speak during a news conference in Mexico City today. The conference was held to announce the detention of a top cocaine trafficker wanted in the United States. (Associated Press) |
Mexico City Mexican authorities on Friday announced the capture of a top Mexican drug smuggler wanted in the United States for cocaine trafficking and money laundering and who was included among the 40 most-wanted fugitives in the world.
Oscar Arriola Marquez, leader of the Arriola Marquez cartel, was arrested on Thursday in the northern state of Coahuila, one of three states where the organization is based, Attorney General Daniel Cabeza de Vaca said.
He is one of the drug traffickers most sought after in the United States and among the 40 most-wanted fugitives in the world, Cabeza de Vaca said.
Mexican authorities acted on a warrant for Arriola Marquez's arrest based on a request from the U.S. to extradite him on charges of drug trafficking, introduction of cocaine into the United States, and money laundering.
The Arriola Marquez cartel distributed drugs in Colombia, Venezuela and in the U.S. states of Arizona, Illinois, North Carolina and New York, Cabeza de Vaca said. The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration estimates the group has smuggled 2.4 tons of cocaine a month into the United States since 2001, he said. The cartel's other bases were located in the northern states of Chihuahua and Nuevo Leon.
Mexican authorities struck their first blow to the cartel in 2003, when they seized 2 tons of cocaine in the central state of Aguascalientes, 1.5 tons of marijuana in the Gulf coast state of Veracruz, and arrested nine alleged cartel members in Mexico City, Cabeza de Vaca said.
Four other reputed leaders of the cartel were arrested during a subsequent operation in February 2004, he said.
In the first investigations of the cartel, authorities also seized numerous weapons, vehicles, telephones, radios, and aerial maps reflecting the group's smuggling routes, the attorney general said.
Authorities had properties of the cartel cordoned off in Coahuila and Nuevo Leon on Friday and planned to search the properties.
Arriola Marquez inherited the trafficking ring's leadership position after the capture of his brothers Raul and Miguel in September 2004, Cabeza de Vaca said. The status of his brothers' cases was not clear. |
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