DRUG LORD ARRESTED WHILE FISHING

WASHINGTON - Federal drug agents arrested Mexican drug lord
Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, a leader of a major violent gang
responsible for digging elaborate tunnels to smuggle drugs under the
U.S. border, a Justice Department official said Wednesday.

The federal law enforcement official added that Arellano-Felix, 37,
was captured by Drug Enforcement Administration agents, aided by the
U.S. Coast Guard, on Monday while he was deep sea fishing off the
coast of Mexico's Baja California peninsula.

He is wanted in both the United States and Mexico for his role as a
leader in the violent and sophisticated Tijuana-based Arellano-Felix
gang, which includes seven brothers and four sisters from the Arellano
family.

The law enforcement official said two suspected assassins for the gang
were among the eight adults and three juveniles on the sport fishing
boat, the Dock Holiday.

The Justice official and the federal law enforcement official
requested anonymity because the arrest had not yet been officially
announced.

The Arellano-Felix gang is one of the three large Mexican drug
cartels, along with the Gulf Cartel and the Federacion. The
Arellano-Felix gang is believed to be responsible for the
sophisticated drug tunnels discovered last January.

The tunnels ended in a warehouse just south of San Diego. The DEA says
the gang is also responsible for multiple murders and the smuggling of
tons of marijuana, cocaine, heroin and methamphetamines over the last
decade.