Top lieutenant of Arellano Félix drug cartel arrested

By Angelica Martinez (Contact) Union-Tribune Staff Writer
12:22 p.m. April 23, 2009

TIJUANA — A top lieutenant of the Arellano Félix drug cartel was arrested this week by Mexican military and federal police, officials said Thursday.

Issac Manuel Godoy-Castro was featured in a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration flier seeking information on members of the cartel before his arrest Tuesday in Tijuana.

A Mexican navy official based in Ensenada confirmed to The San Diego Union-Tribune that military and federal authorities captured Godoy-Castro along with a handful of others who were with him.

Godoy-Castro has been taken to Mexico City, where he is being processed by Mexican federal authorities.

According to The Associated Press, Godoy-Castro led a cell of the cartel and answered directly to its suspected leader, Fernando Sanchez Arellano, known as the “the engineer.â€