http://washtimes.com/national/20060203-111450-3883r.htm

U.S.-Mexico operation nets drug kingpin
By Jerry Seper
THE WASHINGTON TIMES
February 4, 2006


U.S. drug agents working with Mexico's Agencia Federal de Investigaciones (AFI) have arrested a drug kingpin in Torreon Coahuila, Mexico.
Oscar Arturo Arriola-Marquez was arrested Thursday night by an elite drug force on charges of trafficking thousands of pounds of cocaine and marijuana into the U.S., and Mexican government officials seized $32 million in assets from what they called the Arriola-Marquez cartel.
"As a man complicit in the ruined lives of countless Americans, his arrest is a meaningful victory in this nation's battle against drugs," said Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Deputy Administrator Michele M. Leonhart.
"He was responsible for cocaine in American neighborhoods from Colorado to North Carolina, and his money laundering operation was one of the largest in the world."
Mrs. Leonhart said the Arriola-Marquez smuggling operation is known to have drug cells in Texas, Colorado, Missouri, New York, Illinois, North Carolina, Georgia and New Mexico.
On June 1, Arriola-Marquez was identified by President Bush as a foreign narcotics kingpin under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act.
The arrest of Arriola-Marquez was made by Agencia Federal de Investigaciones' specialized investigative unit, an elite drug enforcement section. His apprehension came after extensive surveillance operations led by the Mexican government with assistance from the DEA.
Arriola-Marquez was charged in December 2003 in an indictment returned in the U.S. District Court in Denver for conspiracy to import a controlled substance, conspiracy to distribute a controlled substance, money laundering, and aiding and abetting.
Mrs. Leonhart said a provisional arrest warrant was signed by the Mexican government and the United States will seek extradition. If convicted, Arriola-Marquez would face a mandatory minimum sentence of 20 years in prison.