Drug Lord Detained In Mexico After Helicopter Crash Kills 14 Marines

Drug Lord Detained In Mexico After Helicopter Crash Kills 14 Marines

by Joseph Anthony
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In this file handout picture released by the Mexican Federal Preventive Police (PFP) on January 29, 2005, members of the PFP escort drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, at the Puente Grande prison in Guadalajara, Jalisco State, Mexico. (Photo by Mexican Federal Police / AFP) /

Notorious drug lord, Rafael Caro Quintero, on Friday, was detained in Mexico after 14 Marines who assisted in his capture were killed in a helicopter crash,

Quintero, 69, is accused by the United States of ordering the kidnap, torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent Enrique โ€œKikiโ€ Camarena in 1985.
He was detained by Mexican marines in the town of Choix in the northwestern state of Sinaloa, for โ€œthe purpose of extradition,โ€ the navy said in a statement.
The Mexican Navy Black Hawk helicopter crashed in Los Mochis, Sinaloa following the operation to capture him, according to the statement. One other Marine was injured and remains in hospital.
The cause of the crash was unknown and an investigation would take place, the statement added
Caro Quintero had already been arrested in 1985, tried in Mexico and sentenced to 40 years in prison for Camarenaโ€™s murder.
But in 2013, a Mexican court ordered his release on a legal technicality after he served 28 years, a move that angered US authorities.
By the time Mexicoโ€™s Supreme Court overturned the decision, Caro Quintero had already gone into hiding.
The case plunged US-Mexican relations into a crisis, and it took decades for anti-drug agencies on both sides of the border to rebuild trust.
Caro Quintero, alias โ€œRafa,โ€ has a $20 million bounty on his head and is described by the FBI as โ€œextremely dangerous.โ€
He is accused of co-founding the now-defunct Guadalajara drug cartel and currently runs an arm of the infamous Sinaloa cartel, according to US authorities.
The US Department of Justice expressed gratitude Friday to Mexican authorities over Caro Quinteroโ€™s arrest, confirming the US plans to seek his extradition.
โ€œThere is no hiding place for anyone who kidnaps, tortures, and murders American law enforcement,โ€ Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
โ€“ Denial of guilt โ€“

In 2016, in an interview published by news magazine Proceso, Caro Quintero denied killing Camarena, whose story was depicted in the Netflix show โ€œNarcos: Mexico.โ€
โ€œI did not kidnap, did not torture and did not kill him,โ€ Caro Quintero said, adding that he wanted to โ€œlive in peaceโ€ and work as a cattle rancher.
โ€œI apologize to the society of Mexico for the mistakes I made, to the Camarena family, the DEA, and the US government. I apologize,โ€ he added.
Camarenaโ€™s murder was considered a vendetta for investigations by the DEA agent that led to the seizure of a massive marijuana field in Chihuahua.
Last year a Mexican court ruled that Caro Quintero could be extradited to the United States if caught, rejecting an appeal from his lawyers who argued that he had already been tried in his home country.
The Guadalajara drug cartel, powerful in the 1980s, is considered the forefather of modern Mexican drug cartels.
It was one of the first to establish contacts with Colombian drug lords to transport cocaine from the South American country to the United States.
The cartelโ€™s other founders, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carillo were also handed long prison sentences in Mexico for Camarenaโ€™s murder.
The organizationโ€™s disappearance led to the rise of the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel led by Joaquin โ€œEl Chapoโ€ Guzman.
In 2017, Mexico extradited Guzman to the United States where he is serving a life sentence.
A wave of cartel-related violence has left more than 340,000 people dead in Mexico since the government deployed the military in the war on drugs in 2006.

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