Mexico captures key Tijuana drug cartel operative
By Miguel Angel Gutierrez
2 hours, 44 minutes ago
Mexico has captured a high-level drug suspect working for the powerful Tijuana cartel and will deport him to face smuggling charges in the United States, the government said on Wednesday.
Gustavo Rivera Martinez, a U.S. citizen wanted by the FBI and the Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) on drug charges, was arrested late on Tuesday in the northwestern Mexican state of Baja California Sur, Interior Minister Juan Camilo Mourino told a news conference.
The U.S. ambassador to Mexico, Tony Garza, sent a brief statement praising the arrest, the second major drug capture this year under President Felipe Calderon's crackdown on smugglers, after the detention in January of a senior operative of the rival Sinaloa cartel.
Tuesday's capture followed half a dozen recent raids on the Tijuana cartel, also known as the Arellano Felix organization, that have put around 30 mid-level operatives behind bars.
Rivera Martinez is described as a lieutenant-level manager by the DEA, which had offered up to $2 million for information leading to his arrest. He is believed to be close to Enedina Arellano Felix, the latest in a clan of siblings to be heading the cartel, based in and around the seedy border city.
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