Published on : 16/07/2022 – 11:10
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Rafael Caro Quintero, a historic figure in drug trafficking in Mexico, actively sought by the FBI, was arrested on Friday by agents of the Mexican Navy.
Washington had offered $20 million for his capture. Rafael Caro Quintero, a Mexican drug trafficker, who is among the ten most wanted fugitives by the United States, was arrested on Friday July 15 in Mexico, the Navy Ministry said.
The operation took place in the state of Chihuahua, in the north of the country, said Mexican media.
Rafael Caro Quintero, 69, was wanted by the FBI for the kidnapping, torture and murder of US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) agent Kiki Camarena in Mexico in 1985, according to the FBI. He is also one of the founding members of the first major drug cartel, that of Guadalajara (south), in the late 1970s.
“He retains an influential position in the Sinaloa Cartel and in the Caro-Quintero drug trafficking organization,” according to the FBI.
Sentenced then released for irregularity
Arrested for the first time in 1985, he was tried and sentenced in Mexico to 40 years in prison. A judge freed him in 2013 over a legal form issue. The Mexican justice asked for his capture again shortly after.
The United States has also requested his capture and extradition for the kidnapping and assassination of Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, an American agent of Mexican origin, as well as for drug trafficking.
“I did not kidnap him, I did not torture him, I did not kill him”, he defended himself in an interview from hiding to the weekly Proceso in July 2016. “I I was at the scene of the crime, it is my only participation”.
Rafael Caro Quintero is one of the main characters in the series “Narcos Mexico” which traces in detail the formation of the Guadalajara Cartel, the DEA’s secret war in Mexico, the arrest, torture and murder of the agent Camerana.
The head of the Guadalajara cartel, Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo, has been in prison since 1989 for the assassination of Kiki Camarena. He denies his involvement.
With AFP
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