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Drug cartel money manager arrested in Baja California

American Gustavo Rivera Marti-nez, considered by US drug and crime units as a main financial manager of the Tijuana drug cartel, was detained by police in the Mexican state of Baja California, authorities said on Wednesday.

Rivera Martinez, who was arrested with three accomplices, "concentrated his operations in drug trafficking and money laundering" and had been wanted by both the US Drug Enforcement Agency (DEA) and the FBI, Mexican Interior Secretary Juan Camilo Mourino told a press conference.

"This individual is one of the criminals most sought after by the DEA and the FBI, who offered a reward of up to 2 million dollars," Mourino said.

The official said Rivera Martinez, 46, would be expelled "immediately" from Mexico to the US.

The Tijuana cartel, one of the four large drug mafias operating in Mexico, is run by the Arellano-Felix brothers and controls the drug traffic bound for California.

It has been blamed for the murder and torture of police officers, informants and rivals, and the US Department of Justice said the cartel has imported and distributed hundreds of tons of cocaine and marijuana in the US.

In 2003 the US issued indictments for Rivera Martinez and 11 others in the cartel hierarchy after a decade-long cross-border investigation.

The indictment said the Tijuana operation received multi-tonne shipments of cocaine by sea and air from other traffickers, including Colombia's Revolutionary Armed Forces of Colombia.

Its leader, Francisco Javier Arellano-Felix, was sentenced in November to life without the possibility of parole.
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