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Mexican police arrest drug trafficker wanted by U.S.


    Mexico City, Feb 10 (EFE).- A suspected drug trafficker wanted in Mexico and the United States was arrested by the Mexican Federal Police earlier this month, the National Security Council said.

    Tirso Martinez Sanchez, who imported, transported and distributed narcotics for different criminal organizations, was captured on Feb. 2, the council said in a statement.

    The suspect had close ties to powerful drug traffickers "Amado Carrillo Fuentes, Arturo Beltran Leyva and, at one time, Colombian traffickers Victor and Miguel Mejia Munera," the council said.

    The Colombian Attorney General's Office has linked Martinez Sanchez to Juan Carlos Ramirez Abadia and Diego Leon Montoya Sanchez, who were arrested in 2007 and were the leaders of gangs in the South American country, the council said.

    Martinez Sanchez was arrested following a six-month intelligence operation in Leon, a city in the central Mexican state of Guanajuato, the National Security Council said.

    Federal law enforcement agents identified a house in Leon where Martinez Sanchez, the subject of an arrest warrant issued in 2007 in response to a U.S. extradition request, was living, the council said.

    Martinez Sanchez is accused of smuggling 76 tons of cocaine into the United States between 2000 and 2003.