U.S. hands over former cartel boss Eduardo Arellano Félix to México

The United States has handed former Tijuana drug cartel boss Eduardo Arellano Félix back to México, where he was re-arrested.

Arellano Félix, known as ‘The Doctor,’ was released last week from a federal prison in Pennsylvania where he was serving a 15-year sentence for money laundering and conspiracy, to which he pleaded guilty in May 2013.

“At 5:15 pm today, at the Brownsville-Matamoros International Bridge, the Office of the Attorney General of the Republic (FGR), and the Mexican Army received Eduardo ‘A,’ to carry out an arrest warrant against him (…) for his probable responsibility in organized crime, crimes against health and criminal association,” the Attorney General’s Office said in a statement.

The 64-year-old Arellano Félix did not complete his full sentence as a result of his cooperation with U.S. authorities.

The Arellano Félix brothers’ cartel monopolized drug trafficking routes into the U.S. for more than 20 years.

The U.S. justice department said in 2013 that according to court documents, the Arellano Félix Organization moved hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana from México and Colombia into the U.S., making hundreds of millions of dollars.

“The cartel terrorized the Southwest border and beyond with executions, torture, beheadings, kidnappings and bribes to law enforcement, military personnel and government officials,” it said.

Arellano Félix was extradited from México to face U.S. charges in August 2012.

The group’s former leader, Benjamín Arellano Félix, was extradited from México in April 2011 and sentenced to 25 years in prison in San Diego in April 2012, while Francisco Javier Arellano Félix is serving a life sentence after his capture in 2006 by the U.S. Coast Guard.

Esta historia fue publicada originalmente el 24 de agosto de 2021, 2:38 p. m..