Associated Press Javier Arellano-Felix |
WASHINGTON
– Federal drug agents and the Coast Guard arrested Mexican drug lord
Javier Arellano-Felix, a leader of one of Mexico's most feared drug
cartels, a Justice Department official said Wednesday. The
federal law enforcement official added that Arellano-Felix, 37, was
captured by the U.S. Coast Guard Monday while he was deep sea fishing
abroad a sport fishing boat, the Dock Holiday, off the coast of
Mexico's Baja California peninsula.
Two
suspected assassins for the gang were among the eight adults and three
juveniles on the boat, the law enforcement official said.
The
drug kingpin, 37, is wanted in both the United States and Mexico for
his role as a leader in the violent and sophisticated Tijuana-based
Arellano-Felix gang, which includes seven brothers and four sisters
from the Arellano family. The official requested anonymity because he
spoke before the official announcement of the arrest. The
Arellano-Felix gang is one of the three large Mexican drug cartels,
along with the Gulf Cartel and the Federacion. The Arellano-Felix gang
is believed to be responsible for the massive, sophisticated drug
tunnels discovered last January.
The
tunnels ended in a warehouse in Otay Mesa, just south of San Diego. The
DEA says the gang is also responsible for multiple murders and the
smuggling of tons of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines
over the last decade.
The
Justice Department has called an afternoon news conference with Deputy
Attorney General Paul McNulty, Coast Guard Commandant Admiral Thad
Allen, and Drug Enforcement Administration Chief of Operations Michael
Braun to announce what it called “the arrest of a high-profile
narcotics target.”
The
Arellano Felix family gang was once Mexico's most powerful and feared
drug cartel, running a vast smuggling operation out of the gritty
border city of Tijuana.
It
lost some of its power in 2002, when its ruthless enforcer, Ramon
Arellano Felix, was killed in a shootout with police and his brother,
Benjamin, the cartel's mastermind, was arrested weeks later. Still,
anti-narotics experts say the family is still very much in business and
has cut deals with the Gulf cartel based in Mexico's northeastern state
of Tamaulipas.
Members
of the Arellano-Felix organization, including Javier, were indicted in
the United States in 2003 for racketeering, conspiracy to import and
distribute cocaine and marijuana and money laundering. The U.S.
government had offered a reward of up to $5 million for information on
Javier Arellano-Felix or his brother Eduardo.
Their
gang is believed to be responsible for the massive, sophisticated drug
tunnels discovered between Tijuana and San Diego last January. The DEA
says the gang is also responsible for multiple murders and the
smuggling of tons of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines
over the last decade.
Turf wars across Mexico claimed more than 1,000 lives in the last year.
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