MEXICO ANNOUNCES DRUG LORD CAPTURE

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican authorities say they have captured a drug lord
wanted on charges he and his brother had a tunnel built under the border to
smuggle drugs into the United States.

The arrest on Friday of Arturo Guzman opens the door for his possible
extradition to stand trial in the United States, Attorney General Rafael
Macedo said at a hastily arranged news conference late Friday.

Macedo said Guzman, one of 12 notorious Mexican drug suspects U.S.
authorities want to extradite, was captured in a Mexico City safe house. He
did not provide further details of the arrest.

Authorities were optimistic his capture will lead them to his brother,
Joaquin Guzman, whose escape from one of Mexico's most secure prisons badly
embarrassed the government of President Vicente Fox.

Arturo Guzman, also known as "The Chicken", is accused of drug and weapons
trafficking in Mexico and is wanted on U.S. charges he and his brother
supervised the building of a tunnel 1,416 feet long and 65 feet deep
beneath the border to smuggle drugs into the United States.

Macedo said Arturo Guzman took control of a powerful drug syndicate
headquartered in eastern Sinaloa state after his brother went to prison. He
used his post to coordinate Joaquin's life on the run in the seven months
since the jailbreak, Macedo said.

The 43-year-old Joaquin Guzman had been serving more than 20 years for
criminal association and bribery and was also involved in a 1993 shootout
in which a Roman Catholic cardinal was killed in crossfire.

He sent shock waves through Mexico's criminal justice system when he
slipped out of maximum security Puente Grande prison in western Jalisco
state Jan. 19.

"We are close to an arrest," Macedo said. "(Joaquin Guzman) is the last and
most important member of the gang."