MEXICO CITY -- Police in the Netherlands arrested a suspected top enforcer for the powerful Sinaloa Cartel on drug charges he faces in Southern California, a U.S. federal law enforcement official said Friday.
The law enforcement official said the suspect captured in Amsterdam is Jose Rodrigo Arechiga Gamboa. The official spoke on condition of anonymity because the official wasn't authorized to discuss the case.
Arechiga is a top enforcer for Ismael Zambada, who co-heads the Sinaloa drug organization along with Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman.
Dutch border police said they arrested a 33-year-old Mexican man on Tuesday after he arrived at Amsterdam's Airport Schiphol on a flight from South America. Police didn't release his name citing privacy laws, but said he was arrested at the request of U.S. authorities. The man is being held in a Dutch jail, pending his extradition.
The Mexican Embassy in The Netherlands said it was aware of the detention of a Mexican citizen and that it was willing to offer consular assistance if he requested help.
According to local media, Arechiga is also known as "El Chino Antrax," one of the two leaders of a group of hit men who call themselves the "Anthrax," like the deadly disease.
Authorities have blamed the cell for a series of murders, including the killings of three men who were hung off a bridge in 2011, that were seen as revenge after one of their leaders was murdered. The Anthrax helped the Sinaloa organization as it engaged in a bloody war with the Beltran Leyva cartel, when the latter decided to splinter in 2008.
Several folk songs, known as narcocorridos, mention "El Chino Antrax" as an elegant and fit man with a taste for sports cars, yachts and Champagne.
The U.S. attorney's office in San Diego didn't immediately respond to messages seeking comment on his arrest and possible prosecution. But the federal official said the charges stem from a federal court in San Diego.
