Mexico Authorizes U.S. To Seize Caro Quintero's Property

 "Ivan" for Borderland Beat 

A Mexican court authorized the United States to seize the assets of drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero in Mexico. According to information published by Reuters, on Thursday the U.S. Justice Department issued a statement regarding the ruling.

"The ruling is the first use of a new asset forfeiture law that could strengthen cooperation between the two countries in their fight against the drug cartels," it reports.

Quintero, co-founder of the once-powerful Guadalajara Cartel, was convicted in a Mexican court in 1985 of murdering a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent and was captured in Mexico in July , but has so far avoided extradition.

Under its civil forfeiture law, Mexico will allow the U.S. Justice Department to rid Quintero of the Guadalajara property.

U.S. justice officials said Quintero bought real estate with proceeds from decades of trafficking marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States.

"This seizure sends a powerful message to drug kingpins in Mexico and elsewhere that there are no limits to prosecuting the bad guys and locating their ill-gotten assets wherever they are in the world," said Breon Peace, U.S. attorney for the Eastern District of New York. York, in a statement.

Caro Quintero spent 28 years in prison in Mexico for the murder and torture of DEA agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena.

He was released in 2013 on a technicality by a Mexican judge, in what was considered an embarrassment for the government of then-President Enrique Peña Nieto, before going into hiding.

Caro Quintero, who has denied involvement in Camarena's murder, was recaptured four months ago and is currently in custody in Mexico while extradition proceedings continue.

RIODOCE