Top Mexican Drug Kingpin Nailed by US Coast Guard

September 03, 2006

Jim Kouri, NewsLog

by Jim Kouri, CPP

The US Coast Guard, working closely with the DEA, apprehended Arellano-Felix and seven other adults in a recreational vessel on and arrived at the Coast Guard facility in San Diego, where they were taken into custody by the DEA and US Marshals.

“For over a decade, the Arellano-Felix family dominated the Mexican drug trade and flooded our nation with hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana, and massive quantities of methamphetamine and heroin,” said a high ranking DEA official.

“Javier Arellano-Felix, the last stronghold at the top of that cartel, is a violent drug kingpin wanted in the United States for numerous drug trafficking, conspiracy, and money laundering charges. He is considered threatening enough to our nation to warrant a $5 million US State Department reward for his capture. His arrest topples a dynasty built on violence and drugs and puts a chokehold on the destruction this brutal organization has caused in both the United States and Mexico,” she said.