Mexico Orders Arrest of Freed Drug Lord on US Request

A Mexican judge ordered the arrest of notorious drug lord Rafael Caro
Quintero -- who was freed last week on a technicality -- after
receiving a US extradition request.
US authorities were outraged by the surprise release of Caro Quintero,
who had served just 28 years of a 40-year sentence for the abduction,
torture and killing of a US drug agent in 1985, reports AFP.
The 60-year-old, once a senior figure in a now-defunct cartel,was
convicted of killing the US Drug Enforcement Agency's Enrique Camarena
and his Mexican pilot Alfredo Zavala.
But on August 7 a judge in the western state of Jalisco ordered his
release, and Caro Quintero has gone missing since heleft prison.
The federal judge accepted the request from the US government,saying
Caro Quintero was wanted for "various offenses" in the state of
California, the Mexican attorney general's office said.
If and when Caro Quintero is detained, US authorities will have 60
days to submit a formal extradition request, it added.
The US National Security Council had said Sunday it was"deeply
concerned" by Caro Quintero's release and feared another individual
connected to the Camarena killing could also be set free.
Mexican Foreign Minister Jose Antonio Meade downplayed the dispute
over the release, saying it would not affect relations with Washington
because both governments opposed the court ruling, which he said
should be "revised."
Caro Quintero was a leading figure in the Guadalajara Cartel. The
now-defunct organization was one of the early Mexican drug mafias that
linked up with Colombian groups to smuggle cocaine and other drugs
into the United States.