The U.S. authorities have placed a new bounty for the capture of accused Mexican drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, months after a ruling from a judge in Mexico's Jalisco state overturned his conviction which made him a free man, CNN reported.
The State Department has said that it will pay up to $5 million for information leading to Quintero's arrest or conviction. The 61-year-old Quintero, formerly the leader of the Guadalajara Cartel, has been accused of being the leader behind the kidnapping and subsequent killing of DEA agent Enrique 'Kiki Camarena and his pilot Alfredo Zavala Avelar in 1985, news reports said.
"Caro Quintero was the organizer and mastermind of this atrocious act, and his unexpected release from a Mexican prison was shocking and disturbing to law enforcement professionals on both sides of the border. [The U.S. government] will utilize every tool available, including the State Department Narcotics Rewards Program, to bring Caro Quintero to justice," said DEA Administrator Michaelle Leonhart in a statement on Tuesday.
Caro Quintero had served 28 years of a 40-year prison term for his crimes when a Mexican court ordereed his release on August 9, 2013 on procedural grounds, read a DEA press release. The DEA still classifies Caro-Quintero a fugitive from the U.S. District Court for the Central District of California on felony murder, felony kidnapping and a host of other criminal charges, the press release stated.
The U.S. Justice Department said freeing Caro Quintero was a "deeply troubling" development, adding that it would "vigorously continue its efforts to ensure" that he faces charges for his crimes, CNN also reported.
Mexican Attorney General Jesús Murillo Karam promised authorities in his country would reapprehend Caro Quintero after a meeting in September, CNN also reported. Demonstrations took place in October outside the U.S. Embassy against the U.S. interference within Mexico's politics, Reuters reported.
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