MEXICO CITY (AP) — Notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, who was behind the killing of a U.S. DEA agent in 1985, was captured Friday by Mexican forces practically a decade after strolling out of a Mexican jail and returning to drug trafficking, based on the Mexico’s navy.

Caro Quintero was arrested after a search canine named “Max” discovered him hiding in brush within the city of San Simon in Sinaloa state throughout a joint operation by the navy and Legal professional Basic’s Workplace, based on a press release from the navy. The location was within the mountains close to Sinaloa’s border with the northern border state of Chihuahua.

Mexico’s nationwide arrest registry listed the time of Caro Quintero’s arrest as round noon. There have been two pending arrest orders for him in addition to an extradition request from the U.S. authorities.

A navy Blackhawk helicopter carrying 15 folks crashed close to the coastal metropolis of Los Mochis through the operation, killing 14 of these aboard, the navy assertion stated. The obtainable info indicated it suffered an “accident,” the reason for which had not but been decided, the assertion stated.

Caro Quintero had walked free in 2013 after 28 years in jail when a court docket overturned his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping and killing of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena. The brutal homicide marked a low level in U.S.-Mexico relations.

Caro Quintero, the previous chief of the Guadalajara cartel, had since returned to drug trafficking and unleashed bloody turf battles within the northern Mexico border state of Sonora.

President Andrés Manuel López Obrador has maintained that he’s not excited about detaining drug lords and prefers to keep away from violence.

However the arrest got here simply days after López Obrador met with U.S. President Joe Biden within the White Home.

There had been tensions between the Mexican authorities and the DEA after Mexico enacted a regulation limiting the U.S. company’s operations. However lately, the DEA’s new head in Mexico obtained a visa, which the U.S. officers marked as an indication of progress within the relationship.

Shortly earlier than Caro Quintero’s arrest Friday, U.S. Ambassador Ken Salazar informed a gathering of reporters there had been progress within the safety relationship.

“I’ve been in conferences with the overseas minister and with the safety Cupboard, together with all our companies which have included the brand new head of the DEA sitting at my proper hand,” Salazar stated. “So if we weren’t welcome right here in Mexico that wouldn’t occur.”

An appeals court docket overturned Caro Quintero’s verdict in 2013, however the Supreme Court docket upheld the sentence. It was too late by then; Caro Quintero was spirited off in a ready car.

He was on the FBI’s most needed checklist, with a $20 million reward for his seize by the State Division’s Narcotics Rewards Program. He was added to the FBI’s high 10 most needed checklist in 2018.

Caro Quintero was one of many major suppliers of heroin, cocaine, and marijuana to america within the late 1970s. He blamed Camarena for a raid on a marijuana plantation in 1984. In 1985, Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, allegedly on orders from Caro Quintero. His tortured physique was discovered a month later.

The DEA didn’t instantly remark.

Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of worldwide operations, stated Caro Quintero was believed to have been working independently most lately, although there had been rumors he was again with the Sinaloa cartel.

Caro Quintero was from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, the identical space as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the previous Sinaloa cartel chief now serving a life sentence in america. He ultimately grew to become one of many “godfathers” of Mexican drug trafficking.

Vigil known as Caro Quintero’s arrest a shock, contemplating López Obrador’s acknowledged disinterest in going after drug cartel leaders, however he added that the DEA would by no means cease searching for somebody who killed an agent.

“We didn’t see numerous effort (to seize Caro Quintero) within the final a number of years, particularly when (López Obrador) got here in and instantly began to dismantle numerous the infrastructure and the bilateral relationships between the U.S. and Mexico relative to drug trafficking,” Vigil stated.

After seeing Caro Quintero stroll out of a Mexican jail as soon as already, Vigil stated he hopes the federal government gained’t threat a repeat — Guzman twice escaped from Mexican most safety prisons — and would conform to a possible U.S. extradition request.

In Sonora, one of many state’s hit hardest by Caro Quintero’s efforts to reclaim his territory, there was a hope his arrest might assist.

“I imagine in Sonora, typically, there could possibly be calm, and sure, aid for us, as a result of I imagine the disappearances will diminish,” stated Cecilia Duarte, an activist with a staff of volunteer searchers in Sonora who search for the clandestine graves of the disappeared. Some activists have been threatened and even killed in Sonora amid Caro Quintero’s turf wars with the sons of “El Chapo.”

However, Duarte stated, Caro Quintero “is barely half (of the battle), the battle doesn’t finish.”

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Related Press writers Mark Stevenson and María Verza in Mexico Metropolis contributed to this report.