Drug Cartel Leader Eduardo Arellano Felix Arrested In Mexico After Being Deported From US

One of Mexico’s notorious drug cartel leaders has been handed over by the United States to the Mexican government on Monday to face criminal charges. Eduardo Arellano Felix, one of the notorious Arellano Felix brothers was rearrested upon his arrival in Mexico after serving nearly 15 years in a US federal prison in Allenwood, Pennsylvania. Mexican federal authorities took Felix into custody at a border crossing just outside Brownsville, Texas.

The former cartel leader is one of several brothers who founded and ruled the violent and brutal drug trade in Tijuana during the 1990s moving hundreds of tonnes of cocaine and cannabis between Mexico, Colombia and the United States.

According to Reuters, the Mexican Army and the attorney general’s office, also known as the Fiscalia General de la Republica, issued a statement saying Felix was sent to the maximum security prison “El Altiplano” while awaiting trial for the charges against him on organized crime and drug trafficking committed in his homeland.

In August 2012, Felix was extradited from Mexico to face charges in the US after his arrest in October 2008 during a shoot-out with Mexican authorities in his home. The notorious leader had a $5 million reward for his capture. He pleaded guilty to laundering money to the cartel and was sentenced to 15 years in jail in 2013. However, since he cooperated with US authorities, Felix only served part of his sentence.

He is the last of the four Felix brothers to fall into the hands of the authorities in his family-run drug ring.

His brother Benjamin, said to be the cartel’s mastermind was also extradited from Mexico after his arrest and sentenced to 25 years in the US. His other brother, Francisco Javier, was captured by the US Coast Guard in a fishing boat and was handed a life sentence in 2007. The cartel’s top enforcer was his brother Ramon, who was killed in 2002 during a shoot-out with Mexican authorities.

The Mexican government has been implementing its new policy of no longer detaining drug lords to prevent further violence and bloodshed. The country's current President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has since gained ill-reputation after ordering the release of Ovidio Guzman, one of “El Chapo” Guzman’s sons in 2019.