US hands over former cartel boss Eduardo Arellano Félix to Mexico

Mexico City, Aug 23 (EFE).- The United States on Monday handed former Tijuana drug cartel boss Eduardo Arellano Félix back to Mexico, 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.

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

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

The US justice department said in 2013 that according to court documents, the Arellano Félix Organization moved hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana from Mexico and Colombia into the US, 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 Mexico to face US charges in August 2012.

The group’s former leader, Benjamín Arellano Félix, was extradited from Mexico 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 US Coast Guard. EFE

er/tw