(21 Dec 2001)
1. Wide shot of plane
2. Miguel Caro Quintero, accused drug ring leader, walking from down steps from plane in flak jacket, handcuffed
3. Various of Caro Quintero walking across tarmac
4. Caro Quintero getting into car
Miguel Caro Quintero, an alleged drug cartel leader who appears on the United States' "Drug Kingpin" list, was arrested on Thursday in northern Mexico and was being held on a U.S. extradition request.
Mexico's Justice Department announced the arrest at a news conference, and transferred the burly Quintero to Mexico City aboard a helicopter with the intention of sending him to the U.S., where he faces money laundering and drug charges.
Caro Quintero has allegedly headed a cocaine and marijuana trafficking ring based in the northern state of Sonora since 1985, the same year in which his brother, Rafael, was imprisoned for the torture-murder of U.S. drug agent Enrique Camarena, according to the Drug Enforcement Administration.
U.S. officials have called Miguel Caro Quintero one of the primary figures in the drug trade, saying he controlled a large portion of trafficking along Mexico's northwestern border with the United States.
Caro Quintero is wanted on a several U.S. charges, most recently a 1994 indictment in Arizona alleging money laundering and marijuana trafficking.
Mexican authorities detained him in 1992 but the Mexican charges against him were later dropped.
Caro Quintero was arrested in Los Mochis, in the state of Sinaloa.
Earlier this year Mexico's Supreme Court overturned the last legal barriers to extraditing Mexican citizens to the United States.
The U.S. Drug Kingpin Act allows the U.S. government to freeze bank accounts and other assets of people it identifies as drug traffickers.
It also penalizes companies that do business with those on the list.
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