Mexico Captures Notorious Drug Kingpin Rafael Caro Quintero
MEXICO CITY — A drug kingpin convicted of orchestrating the torture and murder of a Drug Enforcement Administration agent was captured in northern Mexico on Friday, according to Mexican officials, bringing a case that has long been a source of tension with the United States one step closer to resolution.
The drug boss, Rafael Caro Quintero, was captured in a joint operation involving the Mexican marines and the country’s prosecutor’s office near the town of San Simón in the state of Sinaloa, Mexican officials said. Mr. Caro Quintero was found hiding in the bushes by a search dog named Max, according to a statement from the Mexican marines.
Attorney General Merrick B. Garland said the United States would seek his immediate extradition.
Hours after Mr. Caro Quintero was detained, a Black Hawk helicopter crashed outside the nearby city of Los Mochis, killing 14 marines onboard. President Andrés Manuel López Obrador said on Twitter that they had been involved in the mission to capture the former crime lord.
Two warrants had been issued for Mr. Caro Quintero’s arrest, officials said. He has been under indictment in federal court in Brooklyn since 2020 on several counts of drug trafficking, according to court records.
Mr. Caro Quintero was convicted of masterminding the 1985 killing of the D.E.A. agent Enrique Camarena, who was known as Kiki, and was placed on the F.B.I.’s 10 most wanted list in 2018, after he had been released in 2013 on a legal technicality. He has been on the run ever since.
In a move that took American authorities by surprise, Mr. Caro Quintero had served 28 years of his 40-year sentence when he was abruptly set free by a judge who ruled that he had been improperly tried in federal court rather than a state court for the murder of Mr. Camarena.