‘Most wanted’ drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero arrested in Mexico — sources

MEXICO CITY — Mexican authorities captured Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the country’s most wanted drug lords accused of orchestrating the 1985 murder of a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, two sources told Reuters on Friday.

Caro Quintero was a founder of the Guadalajara Cartel, one of Latin America’s most powerful drug trafficking organizations during the 1980s.

Authorities detained Caro Quintero in the Mexican state of Chihuahua, a Mexican Navy source said. A source in the federal government confirmed the arrest.

The U.S. Federal Bureau of Investigation ranks Caro Quintero among their Ten Most Wanted fugitives and had slapped a $20 million reward on his head.

Caro Quintero has previously denied involvement in the killing of DEA agent Enrique Camarena, whose gruesome torture and murder strained bilateral relations between the United States and Mexico.

Last year, Caro Quintero lost a final appeal against extradition to the United States.

Caro Quintero went into hiding after being released in 2013 from a Mexican prison, where he had spent 28 years behind bars.

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