MEXICO OKS DRUG SUSPECT EXTRADITION

MEXICO CITY - Mexico's Supreme Court on Thursday ruled that a man
suspected of being a top drug trafficker can be extradited to the
United States to face charges if he is arrested by Mexican police.

The court upheld a lower court ruling that rejected Miguel Caro
Quintero's effort to block his extradition, a court official said on
condition of
anonymity.

Caro Quintero controls a large portion of drug trafficking along
Mexico's northwestern border with the United States, said Jim Molesa,
a Drug Enforcement Administration agent in Phoenix.

Caro Quintero is wanted on several U.S. charges, most recently a 1994
indictment in Arizona alleging money laundering and marijuana
trafficking, Molesa said. The United States has asked Mexican
authorities to arrest him.

He has headed a cocaine and marijuana ring based in the northern state
of Sonora since 1985, when his brother, Rafael, was imprisoned in the
murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena, the DEA said.

An official at the Mexican federal Attorney General's Office said on
condition of anonymity that it would be the agency's "obligation" to
arrest Caro Quintero but could not immediately comment on what steps
might be taken to do so.

Authorities believe Caro Quintero lives on a ranch near Hermosillo,
Sonora, 165 miles south of the Arizona border.

Authorities arrested him on Mexican charges in 1992 but the
accusations were later dropped.

Molesa welcomed Wednesday's court ruling as a sign of progress in U.S.
efforts to get Mexico to do more to prosecute drug
traffickers.

"This perhaps is recognizing that for the Mexican judicial system, the
status of being a major mafia figure is no longer going to be a cloak
for nonextradition," he said.

The Supreme Court ruling follows this week's extradition of an Arizona
man, William Martin, to face charges of marijuana- and
cocaine-dealing.