Mexico nabs another drug lord
Source: Agencies |
September 1, 2010, Wednesday
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Print Edition
Print Edition
A TEXAS-BORN fugitive known as "the Barbie," who allegedly led a violent smuggling network, grinned as he was paraded in handcuffs before reporters in Mexico City yesterday - the third suspected drug lord to fall in Mexico in the past 10 months in a coup for President Felipe Calderon's war on cartels.
Edgar Valdez Villarreal, who got his improbable nickname from his fair complexion, is wanted in the United States for allegedly smuggling tons of cocaine. In Mexico, he is blamed for a brutal turf war that has included bodies hung from bridges, decapitations and shootouts as he and a rival fought for control of the divided Beltran Leyva cartel.
As he came before reporters, he still wore the green polo shirt in which he was captured the day before. He grinned as police described a high-flying and violent life.
Security forces had been closing in on Valdez for over a year, the biggest breakthrough being the death of his boss, Arturo Beltran Leyva, in a December shootout with marines, Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said.
The arrest of several of Valdez' allies, US intelligence tips and other sources provided evidence that Valdez had left his home of 10 years in the resort of Acapulco to lead a lower-profile life in wealthy neighborhoods of Mexico City, Rosas said.
Federal police nearly nabbed Valdez during a raid in an upscale neighborhood of the Mexican capital on August 8. He got away, Rosas said, but police found him hiding out in a woody weekend getaway outside the Mexican capital. He was captured on Monday.
Edgar Valdez Villarreal, who got his improbable nickname from his fair complexion, is wanted in the United States for allegedly smuggling tons of cocaine. In Mexico, he is blamed for a brutal turf war that has included bodies hung from bridges, decapitations and shootouts as he and a rival fought for control of the divided Beltran Leyva cartel.
As he came before reporters, he still wore the green polo shirt in which he was captured the day before. He grinned as police described a high-flying and violent life.
Security forces had been closing in on Valdez for over a year, the biggest breakthrough being the death of his boss, Arturo Beltran Leyva, in a December shootout with marines, Police Commissioner Facundo Rosas said.
The arrest of several of Valdez' allies, US intelligence tips and other sources provided evidence that Valdez had left his home of 10 years in the resort of Acapulco to lead a lower-profile life in wealthy neighborhoods of Mexico City, Rosas said.
Federal police nearly nabbed Valdez during a raid in an upscale neighborhood of the Mexican capital on August 8. He got away, Rosas said, but police found him hiding out in a woody weekend getaway outside the Mexican capital. He was captured on Monday.
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