Thread: Zeta accused in ICE agent Zapata's slaying extradited to U.S.

Zeta accused in ICE agent Zapata's slaying extradited to U.S.


September 12, 2012 12:04 PM


Jaime Zapata

MEXICO CITY (AP) — Mexico on Tuesday extradited a founding member of the brutal Zetas drug cartel who is suspected of involvement in the killing of a U.S. customs agent, authorities said.

Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar was turned over to U.S. authorities to face drug-trafficking charges in Washington, Mexico's Attorney General's Office said in a statement.

Rejon is identified as third in command of the Zetas, which over a decade went from being the military arm of the Gulf Cartel to having its own drug-trafficking organization. He was one of Mexico's most-wanted men and the U.S. State Department had offered a $5 million reward for information leading to his arrest.

Mexican authorities say Rejon was the leader of a Zetas cell accused of fatally shooting U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement agent Jaime Zapata and wounding fellow agent Victor Avila in February 2011 while they drove on a highway in San Luis Potosi state.

Mexican federal police captured him the following July outside Mexico City in the town of Atizapan.

Rejon entered the Mexican army in 1993 and three years later joined an elite unit. In 1997, he was assigned as an agent of the Attorney General's Office in northern Mexico. Two years later, he deserted and is alleged to have then helped found the Zetas, at first working as security for the head of the Gulf Cartel.

The Zetas are blamed for much of the violence that has resulted in more than 47,000 people being killed in Mexican drug violence since December 2006, when President Felipe Calderon launched a military offensive against the cartels.

Elsewhere on Tuesday, soldiers clashed with gunmen in the northern state of Tamaulipas, across the border from Texas, killing four, state prosecutors said in a statement.

Soldiers first clashed with armed men in a residential area of Reynosa, a city across from McAllen, Texas, killing one man. A second shootout at an empty lot killed three more gunmen, prosecutors said.

"Because of this, criminal groups blocked several city streets with trailer trucks and public buses to obstruct the arrival of the military and police forces," the prosecutors' statement said.

The industrial city of Reynosa is believed to be a stronghold of the Gulf Cartel.
Zeta accused in ICE agent Zapata's slaying extradited to U.S. | extradited, ice, mexico - TheMonitor.com

Man Connected to Agent Zapata's Death Extradited to US

by Mary Chastain /Big Government

16 Sep 2012,

Mexico extradited Jesus Enrique Rejon Aguilar to the US on Tuesday. He was involved with the murder of ICE Agent Jaime Zapata on February 14, 2011.

Mr. Rejon is a founder and third in command of the brutal Los Zetas drug cartel in Mexico. They started as a military arm of the Gulf Cartel before splitting off. The US State Department offered a $5 million reward for any information on him.

On June 12 the Zapata family filed a wrongful death suit against the government. The guns used to murder Agent Zapata and wound his partner Victor Avila were traced to a gun trafficking case out of Texas. Documents show that the suspects who trafficked the guns were under surveillance for months, but weren’t arrested.

Manuel Barba was sentenced to 100 months in prison on January 30 for trafficking the weapons that murdered Agent Zapata.

Hopefully the Zapata family will receive the answers they deserve and Agent Zapata will receive justice.

Man Connected to Agent Zapata's Death Extradited to US