Who was one of the leaders of the Tijuana cartel, Eduardo Arellano Felix, was handed over this Monday by the United States to the Mexican authorities.
Also known as the Doctor, Arellano Felix was received at the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge by members of the Attorney General’s Office (FGR) and the Secretary of National Defense of Mexico, the first of the agencies reported.
The 64-year-old drug trafficker was released last week from a federal prison in Pennsylvania, where he was serving a 15-year sentence for money laundering and conspiracy charges for the use of illicit profits in the USA
After being arrested in 2008 in Tijuana, Mexico, he was extradited four years later to a neighboring country to answer for seven charges against him and for which the US even offered up to $ 5 million as a reward for the his capture.
However, thanks to his extensive cooperation with the authorities in that country – which began when he pleaded guilty in 2013 – the Doctor was only sentenced to two of the seven charges and finally he was able to get out of jail without completing his prison sentence.
Ever since it was announced that he was going to be released in the US, it was unknown if Mexico had legal arguments to arrest Arellano Felix.
This Tuesday, however, the FGR confirmed that it was made available to the Mexican authorities to comply with the arrest warrant issued by a federal judge. “For his probable responsibility in the crimes of organized crime, against health and criminal association.”
“The Specialized Prosecutor’s Office in the field of Organized Crime, which managed and obtained the corresponding arrest warrant, completed it and will proceed to make it available to the judge at the Federal Center for Social Rehabilitation Number 1” The Altiplano, “in the State of Mexico,” the FGR reported without providing further details.
https://twitter.com/FGRMexico/status/1429966728327536652
uncertainty
Following the news of his imminent release from prison on August 18, there was much uncertainty about the future of the former leader of the Tijuana cartel.
Just one day before his release, the Mexican chancellor, Marcelo Ebrard, said Arellano Felix would not be deported to Mexico immediately after it became known that he had changed his “status.”
Ebrard said the US “has no obligation” to explain the reason for a change in a detainee’s status.
“We presume that it is because of the change in the quality of the interested party, that is, in other cases they have done so when they are already protected witnesses, that may be the reason, ”he explained then.
Asked if there were arguments in Mexico to arrest him in case he was finally released, the Mexican chancellor simply said that “It would depend on the Attorney General’s Office.”
Finally, after his release from prison, Arellano Félix was placed in the custody of the Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) while awaiting deportation.
Drug monopoly
The Arellano Felix cartel monopolized drug trafficking routes for more than 20 years through Tijuana, northwestern Mexico, competing with others such as the Sinaloa cartel.
However, the arrest of Eduardo in 2008 was one of the biggest blows to an organization who had already suffered the downfall of others of his leaders in the family.
Another of the brothers, Benjamí Arellano Félix, was arrested in 2002 and sentenced to 25 years in prison in the US in 2012. Also in 2002, Ramón Arellano Félix was killed during the carnival in Mazatlán, Sinaloa.
On the other hand, Francisco Javier Arellano Felix fulfills sentence to life imprisonment after its capture in 2006 by the American Coast Guard.
The eldest of the brothers, Francisco Rafael Arellano Félix, also served a sentence in the US In 2013, he was killed by a man disguised as a clown during a children’s party.
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