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On this authorities handout photograph offered by Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy, brokers escort drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, in Sinaloa state, Mexico, Friday, July 15, 2022, captured deep within the mountains of his residence state. It was a 6-year-old bloodhound named “Max” who rousted Caro Quintero from the undergrowth. (Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy by way of AP)

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On this authorities handout photograph offered by Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy, brokers escort drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, in Sinaloa state, Mexico, Friday, July 15, 2022, captured deep within the mountains of his residence state. It was a 6-year-old bloodhound named “Max” who rousted Caro Quintero from the undergrowth. (Mexico’s Secretariat of the Navy by way of AP)

MEXICO CITY (AP) — The US’ motivation to seek out notorious drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero was by no means doubtful — therefore the $20 million reward for data 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, probably the most needed goal of the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration — the person allegedly accountable for the homicide of a DEA agent greater than three many years in the past — was in Mexican custody.

A bloodhound rousted him from the undergrowth as Mexican marines closed in deep within the mountains of his native state of Sinaloa.

The arrest got here at a heavy price: Fourteen Mexican marines died and one other was injured when a navy Blackhawk helicopter crashed in the course of the operation. The navy mentioned it appeared to have been an accident, with the trigger underneath investigation.

Mexico’s Lawyer Normal’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement late Friday that Caro Quintero was arrested for extradition to the U.S. and could 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 group 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. “At this time’s arrest is the results of years of your blood, sweat, and tears.”

Cooperation between the DEA and Mexico’s marines had led to a number of the highest-profile captures throughout earlier administrations, however not underneath 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 certainly agreed to turning over high-profile drug traffickers once more, which had been suspended,” Saucedo mentioned.

Each presidents face home stress to do extra in opposition to 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.

U.S. Ambassador to Mexico Ken Salazar mentioned in an announcement Saturday that no U.S. personnel participated instantly within the tactical operation that led to the seize of the drug lord. “The apprehension of Caro Quintero was completely performed by the Mexican authorities.”

Samuel González, who based the organized crime workplace in Mexico’s Lawyer Normal’s Workplace and now could be a safety analyst, mentioned the seize might not have a serious 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 would even generate extra violence in territories equivalent 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 “no doubt” 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 Normal Merrick Garland and 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 instant extradition.

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

Mexico’s navy and Lawyer’s Normal 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 in opposition to 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 in response to the DEA was one of many main suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana to the US 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 court docket overturned his verdict in 2013. The Supreme Court docket upheld the sentence, nevertheless it was too late — Caro Quintero had been spirited off in a ready automobile.

Caro Quintero was added to FBI’s 10 most needed 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 in opposition to 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 US 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.