Mexico Police Arrest Tijuana Drug Cartel Leader

The United States had offered a reward of up to $5 million for his capture.

Mexican security forces arrested drug cartel leader Eduardo Arellano Felix, one of the international traffickers most sought by U.S. anti-drug authorities, after a shootout in the city of Tijuana.

Arellano Felix, nicknamed "The Doctor," was a senior member of a family cartel of the same name in the violent border city of Tijuana and faces a five-year-old indictment in the United States for drug smuggling.

"With the support of the federal police, (the army) entered the Chapultepec neighborhood where, under fire, it detained Eduardo Arellano Felix," the defense ministry said on Sunday in a statement.

Arellano Felix was arrested on Saturday after a gun battle with more than 100 police and soldiers that left a three-story home in the city riddled with bullet holes. The United States had offered a reward of up to $5 million for his capture.

President Felipe Calderon has sent tens of thousands of troops and federal police to fight the drug gangs since late 2006 but major arrests of cartel leaders have been few.

The Arellano Felix family dominated the smuggling of cocaine and marijuana into California in the 1990s and was feared for its ruthless elimination of enemies.

Eduardo was believed to run the cartel with his sister Enedina, who remains at large, after other family members were arrested or killed.

Francisco Arellano Felix, Eduardo's youngest brother, was sentenced to life in prison in the United States in November after being captured while deep sea fishing off the coast of La Paz, Mexico. Mexican authorities agreed in June to extradite another brother, Benjamin, to the United States to face smuggling charges.

The weakening of the family has led other Mexican drug cartels to move into Tijuana and battle for control of the lucrative drug trade.

The violent struggle between rival cartels has caused hundreds of killings in the city this year, with many of the victims being mutilated and dumped in public places.