SUSPECTED DRUG KINGPIN TO FACE U.S. CHARGES

MEXICO CITY - A leading drug suspect sought by the United States for a
decade was arrested by Mexican authorities on Thursday and brought to the
capital to face extradition, the office of Mexico's attorney general said.

Miguel Angel Caro Quintero, facing drug-related indictments in Arizona and
Colorado, was captured in the northern state of Sinaloa, Deputy Attorney
General Eduardo Ibarrola told a news conference.

Television news broadcasts showed Caro Quintero arriving in Mexico City in
custody of Mexican authorities.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Agency lists Caro Quintero as one of Mexico's
major drug traffickers, heading a cocaine and marijuana distribution
network based in the border state of Sonora.

"The organization was formerly part of the infamous Mexican Drug
Trafficking Federation," the DEA said in a report on its web page.

The agency said Caro Quintero took over the cartel after his brother,
Rafael Caro Quintero, was imprisoned for the brutal 1985 murder of DEA
agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena.

Miguel Angel Caro Quintero was arrested in 1992, but a Mexican federal
judge dropped all criminal charges and ordered his release from custody,
according to the DEA.

In 1999 Mexico's Supreme Court ruled he could be extradited to the United
States to face money laundering and marijuana trafficking charges if
arrested by Mexican police.

The attorney general's office said Caro Quintero faces no charges in Mexico.

The government of President Vicente Fox (news - web sites) took office last
year pledging to work with U.S. authorities in attacking drug cartels that
move huge quantities of South American cocaine through Mexico into the
United States.

Fox's government has made some high-profile arrests and extradited several
Mexicans to face charges in the United States.