AUTHORITIES ARREST PROMINENT DRUG TRAFFICKER OSIEL CARDENAS.

Mexican authorities have arrested notorious drug trafficker Osiel Cardenas Guillen and other high-level members of the powerful Gulf Cartel. Cardenas is being held at the La Palma maximum-security prison in Mexico state.

Cardenas and other cartel leaders were arrested after a shootout with

US and Mexican authorities had sought Cardenas since 1996 after he took over operations of the Gulf Cartel from Juan Garcia Abrego. Garcia Abrego was arrested by Mexican authorities and subsequently extradited to the US in 2001 (see SourceMex, 2001-01-24). He is currently serving eleven life terms in a Texas prison.

Mexican authorities recently arrested other leaders of the Gulf Cartel. In 2002, the government imprisoned Cardenas' second-in-command Adan Medrano, who is also wanted in the US.

Mexican authorities said the arrest of Cardenas, a former police officer, was the result of a collaborative operation among the Secretaria de Defensa Nacional (SEDENA) and two units of the Procuraduria General de la Republica (PGR): the Agencia Federal de Investigacion (AFI) and the Unidad Especializada contra la Delincuencia Organizada (UEDO).

As part of the operation, Mexican authorities also arrested 19 former employees of the Tamaulipas and federal governments and ex-military officers on the payroll of the Gulf Cartel.

"His security team included former members of elite units of the Army, and ex-employees of the federal police (Policia Federal Preventiva, PFP) and the PGR," said Macedo.

Military authorities, through the Procuraduria de Justicia Militar, have initiated a court-martial against three army officers accused of protecting Cardenas Guillen and his lieutenant Gilberto Garcia Mena. The three officers--Brig. Gen. Ricardo Martinez Perea, Lt. Javier Antonio Quevedo Guerrero, and Capt. Pedro Maya Diaz--have denied the charges. Furthermore, they have accused military interrogators of using torture to extract false confessions.

US requests Cardenas' extradition

The US government, which had offered a US$2 million reward leading to the arrest of Cardenas, has already requested his extradition to the US. US authorities are charging Cardenas with involvement in organized crime, drug trafficking, money laundering, and assaults on federal agents.