Chief of big drug gang arrested in Mexico City

MEXICO CITY -- Mexican troops arrested one of the country's most-wanted drug-traffic suspects, Armando Valencia, along with seven top figures in his ring, officials announced Saturday.

The U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration said Valencia headed one of the top four drug-smuggling operations in Mexico, a key link between Colombian smugglers and the Southwestern U.S. border.

Mexican Attorney General Rafael Macedo de la Concha told a news conference that the group may have accounted for a third of the drugs smuggled from Mexico to the United States.

Officials said that one of Valencia's main smuggling routes was through the Mexican border city of Nuevo Laredo.

Defense Secretary Ricardo Vega Garcia said it was "a very cruel cartel with a lot of killings," though he did not list specific incidents.

Spotted in a restaurant

Officials said Valencia was spotted Friday at a Sanborns restaurant in Zapopan, near Guadalajara in north-central Mexico.

Troops followed him to a bar a few miles south in the town of Tlajomulco, where he was arrested later that day without a struggle along with seven alleged aides, including Eloy Trevino, who Vega said was the group's chief assassin.

"The seven detained were the backbone of the organization and Armando Valencia the head," Macedo said.

Mexican officials said that Valencia began working in 1985 under drug boss Amado Carrillo Fuentes, who died after a botched plastic surgery operation in July 1997. Valencia then struck out on his own.

Valencia was indicted in Miami on federal drug trafficking charges in 1999 after U.S., Colombian and Mexican authorities collaborated on Operation Millennium, which focused on attacking smuggling routes from Colombia to the United States.

At the time, officials estimated Valencia's group was moving about 20 tons of drugs per month into the United States.

Macedo said Valencia would face legal charges in Mexico before any possible extradition could occur.