| | |  News Around the Republic of Mexico 
Mexico Appeals Acquittal of Reputed Drug 'Queen'
 Associated Press
go to original
December 07, 2010
| | Sandra Avila Beltran, the Drug Queen of the Pacific | |
Mexico City - The Mexican Attorney General's Office on Monday appealed the acquittal of a reputed drug cartel "queen" on charges of conspiracy to traffic drugs, money laundering and organized crime.
The government said in a statement that they will exhaust all legal options to prove wrongdoing after a judged acquitted Sandra Avila Beltran on Friday. Mexican law allows the government to appeal acquittals.
Avila Beltran was arrested in September 2007 and she has faced extradition to the U.S. since November of that year. That request stems from a 2001 seizure of more than nine tons of U.S.-bound cocaine aboard a fishing vessel in the port of Manzanillo, along Mexico's west coast.
It's unclear how her acquittal will affect the extradition request the Mexico's Attorney General's Office said it would not comment on the case Monday.
A statement on her acquittal said prosecutors failed to prove the "time, place, methods" of her alleged crimes.
Known as the "Queen of the Pacific," prosecutors said Avila Beltran was a major decision-maker for the Sinaloa drug cartel, the most powerful in the country. She has said she is innocent and that her money came from selling clothes and renting houses.
She remains in a Mexico City prison.
|
|
| |
Vallarta Weddings
Tell a Friend
Site Map
Print this Page
Email Us