Mexican cartel leader faces drug-trafficking charges in San Diego

A high-ranking drug cartel leader whose name flew on banners taking credit for a number of murders in Sonora, Mexico, has been arrested in San Diego on drug-trafficking and money-laundering charges, the U.S. attorney’s office announced Friday.

Sajid Emilio Quintero Navidad, who goes by the moniker “El Cadete,” is the cousin of fugitive drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero, accused of being responsible for the murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration Agent Enrique “Kiki” Camarena.

Quintero Navidad was arrested Oct. 11 at the San Ysidro Port of Entry and has pleaded not guilty. Authorities have not released any additional details about his capture.

Enrique “Kiki” Camarena, a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent killed in Mexico in 1985.

(Anonymous / AP )

He was indicted by a San Diego federal grand jury on Sept. 22, charging him with conspiracy to distribute heroin and cocaine for importation, conspiracy to import the drugs and conspiracy to launder money. A sealed warrant for his arrest was issued the same day.

But Quintero Navidad has been on the radar as a major trafficker for some time.

In August 2014, the Treasury Department’s Office of Foreign Assets Control labeled him a “special designated narcotics trafficker” — a designation under the so-called Kingpin Act that prohibits U.S. citizens and businesses from financial transactions with him and also freezes any of his finances in the U.S.

Quintero Navidad was identified as the plaza boss for the Beltran Leyva Organization in the state of Sonora, coordinating the shipment of tons of cocaine from Guatemala and Bolivia through Mexico and controlling important routes into the U.S., according to the Treasury. During a spate of murders in 2012, he was identified on banners in Hermosillo, Agua Prieta and Nogales as being responsible for the bloodshed.

kristina.davis@sduniontribune.com

Davis writes for the San Diego Union-Tribune

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