Police arrest top drug trafficker at Mexico City airport

[News_Editor]

Police arrest top drug trafficker at Mexico City airport

2011-12-29 19:38:08 GMT+7 (ICT)

MEXICO CITY (BNO NEWS) -- Mexican police arrested a top drug trafficker this week for whom U.S. authorities were offering a reward of $5 million dollars, authorities confirmed on early Thursday morning.

Luis Rodríguez Olivera, alias "El Guero," was arrested on Tuesday at Mexico City International Airport. The 39-year-old is accused of money laundering and dealing drugs for the Sinaloa cartel, one of the country's most powerful drug cartels.

According to intelligence reports, Rodríguez and his brothers Esteban, Daniel and Miguel were members of a criminal group known as "Los Gueritos" (The Blondies), which smuggled several tons of cocaine into the United States between 1996 and 2008.

A statement from Mexican federal police added that Esteban was arrested in 2008, while Miguel was killed in the state of Yucatan in August of this year. Rodríguez and his brothers worked for Joaquín "El Chapo" Guzmán, the country's most wanted fugitive.

According to government figures, a total of 15,273 drug-related crimes were reported to authorities in Mexico in 2010. More than 30,000 people have died in drug-related violence since Mexican President Felipe Calderón began his campaign to fight organized crime in December 2006, although some estimates put that number at more than 45,000.

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