Mexico arrests 'king of heroin'
Federal police arrested Mexico’s ’King of Heroin’, a powerful drug trafficker allegedly responsible for running thousands of pounds of heroin into Southern California each year, authorities said.
Jose Antonio Medina, nicknamed Don Pepe, was arrested in the western state of Michoacan on Wednesday and is being held for prosecution, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico’s federal police.
Medina, 36, ran a complex smuggling operation that hauled 440lbs of heroin each month across the Mexican border in Tijuana for La Familia drug cartel, Mr Pequeno said.
The White House National Drug Threat Assessment said that while heroin use is stable or decreasing in the US, the source of the drug shifted in recent years from Colombia – where production and purity are declining – to Mexico, where powerful drug cartels are gaining a foothold in the lucrative market.
Heroin production in Mexico rose from 17 pure metric tons in 2007 to 38 tons in 2008, with the increase translating to lower heroin prices and more heroin-related overdoses and more overdose deaths, according to US government estimates in a report by the National Drug Intelligence Centre.
Border Patrol agents seized 4.8 million pounds of narcotics at border crossings last year, and heroin seizures saw the most significant increase during that time, with a 316% jump over 2008.
Mexico and the US are working together to counter a handful of increasingly violent drug cartels that supply most of the illicit drugs sold in the US.
The arrest came the day after top US Cabinet officials, led by Secretary of State Hillary Clinton, visited Mexico to underscore their shared responsibility for the country’s drug-related violence.
Nearly 17,900 people died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an assault on cartels after taking office in December 2006.
The bloodshed continued yesterday, when Mexican marines on patrol in the small town of Cerralvo, north of the city of Monterrey, came under fire after ordering a convoy of gunmen travelling in six vehicles to stop.
Six of the assailants were killed in the ensuing battle, the navy said. The marine patrol, which was supported by two navy helicopters during the firefight, seized 15 rifles, 10 pistols, two grenades and ammunition from the vehicles.
A secretary at the Cerralvo town hall said the shootout took place on the outskirts of town on the highway toward the border with Texas. The shooting was heard throughout the town.
In Ciudad Juarez, a border city of 1.3 million people just south of El Paso, Texas, police found a decapitated man lying in a shopping centre car park, his head inside a black plastic bag nearby.
Police in Ciudad Juarez also evacuated a grade school after two explosive charges were found on the sidewalk in front of the building. The explosives, apparently of the type used in rock blasting, were removed by soldiers.
In the southern state of Guerrero, the body of a 16-year-old boy was found at a rubbish dump in the township of Tecpan de Galeana. State police said the body bore multiple gunshot wounds.
Such killings are believed to be the result of drug cartels fighting among themselves for control of the drug trade, a lucrative business estimated to bring $25bn (€18.7bn) in cash into Mexico each year.
Federal police in Mexico City said yesterday they had seized $1.7m (€1.27m) in small bills and arrested two Colombians and two Mexicans for allegedly running financial operations for cartels.
