MEXICO CITY (AP) — As Mexican marines closed in on notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero deep within the mountains of his native state of Sinaloa, it was a 6-year-old bloodhound named “Max” who rousted from the undergrowth the person allegedly liable for the homicide of a U.S. DEA agent greater than three many years in the past.

Whereas the USA’ motivation to seek out Caro Quintero was by no means doubtful — therefore the $20 million reward for info resulting in his seize — there was much less certainty in regards to the dedication of Mexican President Andrés Manuel López Obrador, who had made clear his disinterest in pursuing drug lords.

But on Friday, three days after López Obrador and U.S. President Joe Biden met within the White Home, essentially the most wished goal of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration was in Mexican custody.

Mexico’s Lawyer Basic’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement late Friday that Caro Quintero was arrested for extradition to the U.S. and can be held on the most safety Altiplano jail about 50 miles west of Mexico Metropolis.

DEA Administrator Anne Milgram celebrated the seize of a person particularly despised by U.S. officers for the torture and homicide of DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985. “Our unimaginable DEA staff in Mexico labored in partnership with Mexican authorities to seize and arrest Rafael Caro Quintero”, she mentioned in a message to the company late Friday. “Right this moment’s arrest is the results of years of your blood, sweat, and tears,”

Cooperation between the DEA and Mexico’s marines had led to among the highest-profile captures throughout earlier administrations, however not below López Obrador, famous safety analyst David Saucedo.

“It appears to me that within the non-public talks between President Joe Biden and Andrés Manuel (López Obrador) they absolutely agreed to turning over high-profile drug traffickers once more, which had been suspended,” Saucedo mentioned.

Each presidents face home stress to do extra towards drug traffickers. With Caro Quintero’s arrest, “Narcos are being captured once more and I imagine that clearly it was what was in actual fact wanted,” Saucedo mentioned.

The arrest got here at a heavy value, nonetheless. Fourteen marines died and one other was injured when a navy Blackhawk helicopter crashed throughout the operation. The navy mentioned it appeared to have been an accident, with the trigger below investigation.

Samuel González, who based the organized crime workplace in Mexico’s Lawyer Basic’s Workplace and now’s a safety analyst, mentioned the seize might not have a significant impact on the map of organized crime in Mexico, as Caro Quintero was not as highly effective as many years in the past, and it’d even generate extra violence in territories comparable to Sonora, on the US border.

However he mentioned that to López Obrador’s profit, the arrest “exhibits proof that there’s no safety of capos” by his administration.

González believes Caro Quintero has lengthy been a thorn within the bilateral relationship, however mentioned that “doubtless” his seize was fruit of the latest negotiations in Washington.

“The People by no means stopped urgent for his arrest,” González mentioned.

U.S. Lawyer Basic Merrick Garland and U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar expressed gratitude for Mexico’s seize of the person blamed for killing Camarena — a case that introduced a low level in U.S.-Mexico relations.

“This achievement is a testomony to Mexico’s dedication to carry to justice somebody who terrorized and destabilized Mexico throughout his time within the Guadalajara Cartel; and is implicated within the kidnapping, torture and homicide of DEA agent Kiki Camarena,” Salazar mentioned in an announcement late Friday.

Garland mentioned the U.S. authorities would search his quick extradition.

“My hope is that with the seize of Caro Quintero, that that may mend loads of tensions between the DEA and Mexico”, mentioned Mike Vigil, the DEA’s former chief of worldwide operations.

Mexico’s navy and Lawyer’s Basic Workplace led the operation deep within the mountains that straddle the border between Sinaloa and Chihuahua states, many miles from any paved street. They discovered Caro Quintero, with assist of “Max,” hiding in brush in a spot in Sinaloa referred to as San Simon.

López Obrador mentioned that the helicopter that crashed within the coastal metropolis of Los Mochis had been supporting the operation towards Caro Quintero. U.S. officers expressed condolences for the marines who died.

Caro Quintero got here from Badiraguato, Sinaloa, the identical township as Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the previous chief of the Sinaloa cartel, which shaped later. Caro Quintero was one of many founders of the Guadalajara cartel and based on the DEA was one of many major suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana to the USA within the late 1970s and 1980s.

Caro Quintero had blamed Camarena for a raid on an enormous marijuana plantation in 1984. The subsequent yr, Camarena was kidnapped in Guadalajara, allegedly on orders from Caro Quintero. His tortured physique was discovered a month later.

Caro Quintero was captured in Costa Rica in 1985 and was serving a 40-year sentence in Mexico when an appeals courtroom overturned his verdict in 2013. The Supreme Courtroom upheld the sentence, but it surely was too late — Caro Quintero had been spirited off in a ready car.

Caro Quintero was added to FBI’s 10 most wished record in 2018 with a $20 million reward for his seize.

López Obrador had beforehand appeared ambivalent about his case.

Final yr, the president mentioned the authorized attraction that led to Caro Quintero’s launch was “justified” as a result of supposedly no verdict had been handed down towards the drug lord after 27 years in jail. López Obrador additionally depicted a later warrant for his re-arrest for example of U.S. stress.

“As soon as he was out, they needed to search for him once more, as a result of the USA demanded he shouldn’t have been launched, however legally the attraction was justified,” López Obrador mentioned.

Presidential spokesman Jesús Ramírez mentioned on the time, “The president was simply saying that it was a authorized aberration that the decide had not issued a verdict on Mr. Caro Quintero after 27 years … however he was not defending his launch.”

Mexican reporter Anabel Hernandez twice interviewed the fugitive Caro Quintero within the mountains of northern Mexico with out revealing the placement. Caro Quintero claimed in these interviews that he was now not concerned within the drug commerce.