MEXICO CATCHES HIGHLY SOUGHT DRUG SUSPECT

U.S. Posted $2 Million Reward For Capture

MEXICO CITY - Mexican authorities Thursday announced the arrest of one of
the country's most-wanted drug trafficking suspects, for whom the United
States had offered a $2 million reward.

Adan Medrano Rodriguez was detained by agents of Mexico's Federal Agency of
Investigation in the northern state of Tamaulipas on Wednesday night,
Justice Department officials said. He was transferred early Thursday to
Mexico City, where he is being detained.

Medrano, the alleged right-hand man of presumed Gulf drug organization
leader Osiel Cardenas, also was wanted by the FBI, the U.S. Drug
Enforcement Administration and Interpol on drug charges and for allegedly
threatening federal agents in Texas.

Mexican authorities staking out Medrano captured him as he was trying to
get into a sport utility vehicle without license plates, said Justice
Department Special Prosecutor Estuardo Bermudez Molina.

Medrano, who allegedly organized operations in the northern zone of the
drug gang's Gulf coast drug-trafficking corridor, was carrying a .38-
caliber pistol but did not resist arrest, Bermudez said.

Medrano gained stature in the organization after Cardenas' former alleged
first lieutenant, Juan Manuel Garza, surrendered to U.S. authorities in
Texas in June.

Medrano is wanted in Mexico on charges of cocaine trafficking, attempted
murder, illegal arms possession and organized crime. U.S. authorities have
requested his extradition to face charges of possessing and attempting to
distribute marijuana and threatening federal agents.

Police say that on Nov. 9, 1999, Medrano, Cardenas and other assailants
stopped a car with diplomatic plates in Texas and threatened the lives of
the three occupants, including an FBI and DEA agents.

The United States offered a $2 million reward for Medrano's capture, but
Mexican authorities are not eligible to receive the money, Bermudez said.

Some of the informants who helped Mexican authorities find Medrano will
receive some of the money, he said.

U.S. authorities also have offered a $2 million reward for Cardenas, who
remains at large. Cardenas allegedly inherited a large portion of the Gulf
organization after former leader Juan Garcia Abrego was arrested in 1996.
Garcia is serving 11 life terms in the United States.

Police allege that the Gulf organization is one of Mexico's top drug-
smuggling operations.