Some 14 people were killed in a military operation to capture a notorious drug lord who has been on the run for nearly a decade.
Rafael Caro Quintero, 69, infamously ordered the torture and murder of a US drug police officer in Mexico in 1985.
He was imprisoned in Mexico for 40 years, but was able to escape in 2013, after serving only 28 years, and went straight back to the drug trade.
The criminal, who was one of the major suppliers of heroin, cocaine and marijuana in the US in the late 1970s, was in the FBI’s top 10 most wanted persons in 2018 with a $20 million (£16.8 million) reward. ).
He was finally caught this week after a sniffer dog named Max found him hiding in a bush in the town of San Simon, Sinaloa.
Although the operation was successful, it cost a very high price.
A Blackhawk helicopter carrying 15 people working on the mission crashed near the coastal town of Los Mochis, killing 14. The sole survivor is seriously injured.
Mexican officials said the tragedy was an “accident,” but the cause has not been determined.
Quintero will be held in the Altiplano maximum security prison, about 50 miles west of Mexico City, until he is extradited to the US.
The former leader of the Guadalajara cartel is feared for his violence and is seen as a key player in the turf wars that have plagued the northern border state of Sonora in northern Mexico for years.
With the help of corrupt officials, Quintero ordered the kidnapping and murder of 37-year-old American agent Enrique Camarena on February 7, 1985.
Quintero accused the officer of a robbery at one of his marijuana farms the previous year.
The infamous drug lord also allegedly ordered the torture and murder of American tourists John Clay Walker, 36, and Albert Radelat, 33, on January 30, 1985.
John, an aspiring novelist, and Radelat, a dental student, are said to have accidentally walked into one of Quintero’s private parties.
Quintero took them on for drug enforcement officers and is said to have taken them to the restaurant’s retail space to be beaten and tortured with ice picks.
It is believed that Radalat was still alive when he and his friend were wrapped in tablecloths and buried.
Their bodies were found six months later.
Contact our news team by sending an email to: [email protected].
For more stories like this, check our news page.