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Mexico arrests major drug suspect

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-04-02 23:26

MEXICO CITY -- Mexico has detained one of its most wanted drug suspects, Vicente Carrillo Leyva, who allegedly was the second in command of the powerful Juarez cartel, the federal Attorney General's Office said Thursday.

Alleged Mexican drug trafficker Vicente Carrillo Leyva looks on during his presentation to the media in Mexico City, April 2, 2009. [Agencies]

The announcement came hours before the Obama administration's top security officials and their Mexican counterparts were set to discuss ways to stop arms smuggling across the border as well as new strategies for fighting the drug cartels that have fueled violence in both countries.

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Federal police said Carrillo Leyva, 32, was caught while he was exercising in a park in a posh Mexico City neighborhood early Wednesday.

Carrillo Leyva is the son of drug kingpin Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who was one of Mexico's most important drug traffickers before he died during plastic surgery to change his appearance in 1997.

Amado Carrillo Fuentes was nicknamed "the Lord of the Skies" because of his success in sending planeloads of cocaine in to the United States.

After his death, Amado's brother Vicente took over the cartel and Amado's son, Vicente Carrillo Leyva became second-in-command, the Attorney General's Office said.

Officials displayed Carrillo Leyva to the press at a news conference early Thursday, bringing a young man in glasses and a track suit before flashing cameras.

A week ago, the Attorney General's Office named Carrillo Leyva to a list of the country's most-wanted narcotics suspects and offered a reward of 30 million pesos ($2.1 million) for his capture.

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Attorney General Eric Holder were to meet Thursday with Mexican Attorney General Eduardo Medina-Mora and Interior Minister Fernando Gomez-Mont in Cuernavaca, Mexico.

Soldiers last week arrested another figure on the most-wanted list, Hector Huerta, who was accused of controlling the flow of drugs through the northern city of Monterrey for the powerful Beltran-Leyva cartel.