A top Mexican drug trafficker has been arrested by Mexican police, authorities said Wednesday.
Luis Rodriguez Olivera, alias “El Guero,” was arrested at Mexico City’s airport Tuesday, federal police said in a statement.
The United States was offering a $5 million reward for information leading to Rodriguez’s capture.
Rodriguez, 39, is accused of money laundering and importing, possessing and distributing cocaine into the United States.
According to Mexico’s Ministry of Public Security, Rodriguez and his brothers Esteban, Daniel and Miguel were part of a criminal ring known as Los Gueritos, who smuggled drugs into the United States between 1996 and 2008. The crew worked under the leadership of Mexico’s most-wanted fugitive, Joaquin “El Chapo” Guzman, the leader of the Sinaloa cartel.
Of the other brothers, Esteban was arrested in 2008, and Miguel was killed in a shootout in August, the ministry said.
The Rodriguez brothers were indicted in New York in 2009 for drug trafficking.
The U.S. State Department offered the hefty reward for Luis Rodriguez’s capture. While Mexican authorities said Wednesday that Rodriguez was associated with the Sinaloa cartel, U.S. officials offered a slightly different biography of the trafficker.
According to American authorities, Rodriguez and his gang broke away from El Chapo’s federation around 2005 and tried to work independently. Eventually, pressured by the Sinaloa and Gulf cartels, the Rodriguez brothers moved their operations to Leon, Guanajuato, and established a strong relationship with the Zetas drug cartel.
Rodriguez’s arrest was the second important drug trafficking arrest made in two weeks.
Last week, Mexican army special forces arrested a top lieutenant for El Chapo.
Troops arrested Felipe Cabrera Sarabia in the northwestern state of Sinaloa.
Cabrera, who was responsible for the activities of the Sinaloa cartel in Durango and the southern part of the state of Chihuahua, was detained after fleeing from Durango, officials said.
He is charged with possessing firearms reserved for use by the army and falsification of a public document, officials said.
Cortesia de: CNN.Com
