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MEXICO CITY – One of the first Mexican drug kingpins to oversee mass shipments of cocaine was extradited to the United States on Friday to face drug-trafficking charges, ending an eight-year effort by U.S. authorities to take custody of a man who once controlled one of the world's most powerful cartels.
Benjamin Arellano Felix, who allegedly led the Tijuana cartel from its beginnings in the late 1980s, is one of the highest-profile drug suspects to be extradited under the administration of President Felipe Calderon.
The cartel's power began to wane after Benjamin was captured by the Mexican military in 2002 in central Mexico, ending more than a decade as a terrorizing force while his cartel moved tons of cocaine from South America to the U.S.
"He led the cartel at the height of its power," the Mexican Attorney General's Office said in a statement. "He was also who kept the family together."
Mexican federal agents handed Arellano Felix over to U.S. marshals at an airport on the outskirts of Mexico City on Friday, the statement said.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday before U.S. District Judge Larry Burns in San Diego. U.S. authorities hailed the development.
"The extradition of Benjamin Arellano Felix is one of many great victories against this criminal enterprise," said Michele Leonhart, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Arellano Felix was the most significant of 11 people charged in a 2003 federal indictment in San Diego that alleged the cartel was behind widespread violence along California's border with Mexico dating back to 1986.
He was the cartel's "principal organizer and top leader" who oversaw all major decision, including the movement of drugs across the border and their sale in the United States, according to the indictment.
John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor who co-wrote the indictment, said he was shocked that Arrellano Felix was headed to the United States.
Benjamin Arellano Felix, who allegedly led the Tijuana cartel from its beginnings in the late 1980s, is one of the highest-profile drug suspects to be extradited under the administration of President Felipe Calderon.
The cartel's power began to wane after Benjamin was captured by the Mexican military in 2002 in central Mexico, ending more than a decade as a terrorizing force while his cartel moved tons of cocaine from South America to the U.S.
"He led the cartel at the height of its power," the Mexican Attorney General's Office said in a statement. "He was also who kept the family together."
Mexican federal agents handed Arellano Felix over to U.S. marshals at an airport on the outskirts of Mexico City on Friday, the statement said.
He is scheduled to be arraigned Monday before U.S. District Judge Larry Burns in San Diego. U.S. authorities hailed the development.
"The extradition of Benjamin Arellano Felix is one of many great victories against this criminal enterprise," said Michele Leonhart, administrator of the Drug Enforcement Administration.
Arellano Felix was the most significant of 11 people charged in a 2003 federal indictment in San Diego that alleged the cartel was behind widespread violence along California's border with Mexico dating back to 1986.
He was the cartel's "principal organizer and top leader" who oversaw all major decision, including the movement of drugs across the border and their sale in the United States, according to the indictment.
John Kirby, a former federal prosecutor who co-wrote the indictment, said he was shocked that Arrellano Felix was headed to the United States.