The Navy said yesterday the capture in Mexico of historic Mexican drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero, one of the top 10 most wanted in the United States, accused of killing DEA agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena in 1985.

Caro Quintero, 69, one of the leaders of the former Guadalajara cartel, was arrested by agents in Choix, Sinaloa state, Mexico, and stated the addiction. The Navy added that he was detained and will be extradited.

The drug dealer’s reward is $20 million, the highest figure the US drug-dealing agency (DEA) has ever offered for a Mexican criminal, and he beats active bosses such as Nemesio Oseguera, “El Mencho”, leader of the Jalisco Nova Cartel Belt. (10 million).

The boss was caught in 1985 for ordering the murder of Camarena and was sentenced to 40 years in Mexico, where he served, but was released in August 2013 with a legal technicality.

After his release, the United States government requested his extradition arrest on charges of kidnapping and killing a federal agent, violent crimes, possession and distribution of cocaine and marijuana, among others.

“Today’s arrest is the culmination of the work of the DEA and its Mexican partners to bring Caro Quintero to justice for his crimes,” the US Department of Justice said. “We will seek his immediate extradition so that he can be prosecuted for these crimes in the justice system that Agent Camarena died defending.”

Camarena case

In 1984, Mexican authorities confiscated a 2,500-acre marijuana plantation owned by Caro Quintero. The Guadalajara cartel blamed Camarena for the seizure, according to the US Department of Justice. A year later, Camarena was tortured and murdered after four years undercover in the cartel.

In an interview with the weekly “Proceso” in 2016, Caro Quintero denied that he had ordered the murder of Camarena as she fled. “I never talked about this case, it was the first time. I didn’t kidnap him, I didn’t torture him, I didn’t kill him,” he said.

At that moment, the boss also said that he just wanted to “live in peace” after years in drug trafficking. “All I seek is peace and I beg forgiveness from the Mexican society for the mistakes I have made.”

Caro Quintero was born in 1952 in Badiraguato, Sinaloa state, the birthplace of other drug lords such as Joaquín “El Chapo” Guzmán, who was serving a life sentence in the United States. In the 1970s he formed the Guadalajara Cartel with bosses Miguel Ángel Félix Gallardo and Ernesto Fonseca Carillo.

Gallardo, 76, has been in prison since 1989, while Carillo, 91, is under house arrest due to his age and health problems.