On Friday, a Mexican military aircraft was involved in an accident while attempting to apprehend a known drug lord. The accident resulted in the deaths of 14 of the 15 persons aboard the chopper.
A search dog located Mexican cartel lord Rafael Caro Quintero hidden in the brush in Sinaloa while he was being pursued by an elite military unit in Mexico.
Caro Quintero was responsible for the 1985 murder of a federal agent working for the United States.
The Apprehension
According to the Associated Press, a Blackhawk chopper went down “during the operation,” despite the fact that Mexican officials seem to have claimed the disaster was an “accident.”
Reuters said in a report there was no evidence that “showed the event was related to the arrest” of Quintero, which happened in a different part of the state of Sinaloa.
BOOM Rafael "Caro" Quintero is captured by Mexican marines, according to reports. The arrest comes right after the Mexican president met with Biden, and follows a ramped up reward campaign by the DEA. Caro Quintero has been fighting those loyal to the Chapitos in Sonora.
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— Ioan Grillo (@ioangrillo) July 15, 2022
Quintero was found guilty of the murder of DEA rep Enrique Camarena and was given a sentence of 40 years in prison for the crime.
However, he was released in 2013 after having served only 28 years of his sentence because a judge in Mexico determined he should’ve been tried in a federal court, rather than a state court.
Quintero went underground as Mexican authorities attempted to retry the case; he stayed on the run for almost a decade after they took those steps.
It is said Quintero quickly reconstructed his drug cartel after being released from jail, despite the fact the United States government placed a price tag of $20 million on his head.
Mexico captures FBI’s most wanted dr*g lord, Rafael Caro-Quintero. He had a $20M reward for his capture. pic.twitter.com/zIHh4swWT2
— IG: FooCommunity (@FooCommunity) July 16, 2022
Merrick Garland, the attorney general of the United States, praised Mexican authorities for helping to catch Quintero, who was on the FBI’s list of the top ten most wanted fugitives.
Garland stated there is no haven for anyone who abducts, tortures, or murders members of the American law enforcement community.
They owe the Mexican authorities an enormous debt of gratitude for their assistance in locating and apprehending Rafael Caro-Quintero.
Combined Effort
The DEA and their Mexican partners have been working tirelessly to bring Caro-Quintero to justice for his illegal actions, including the brutal treatment of DEA Special Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.
The arrest is the end result of all that work, showing that the mission was a success.
“We will be pursuing his instantaneous extradition to the U.S. so he can be tried for these atrocities in the very judicial process Special Agent Camarena fought to protect,” he added.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) says Quintero plays a key leadership role in coordinating the activities of the Sinaloa Cartel and the Caro-Quintero Drug Smuggling Organization.
In the late 1970s, Quintero was one of the most successful drug traffickers in the United States, dealing mostly in the importation of cocaine, heroin, and marijuana.
This article appeared in The Patriot Brief and has been published here with permission.
