Anonymous - 2-2-2003 at 10:14 PM
Mexico City, Jan 31, 2003 (EFE via COMTEX) -- The attorney general's office has returned to one of Mexico's most notorious drug lords 42 properties
seized 10 years ago when he was sent to prison, the local press reported Friday.
The move benefits Francisco Rafael Arellano Felix, a leader of the Tijuana Cartel who is scheduled to complete his drug-trafficking sentence in 14
months.
The press reported Friday that the attorney general's office returned the real estate to the convicted kingpin because prosecutors could not prove the
assets had been purchased with drug money.
Though it was late last year that a court handed down the order to release the properties, the attorney general's office was only informed this month,
Sinaloa Gov. Juan Millan said.
Among the properties returned were a nightclub, two hotels, a motel, seven houses - including three in the up-scale Mazatlan neighborhood - and
several cars.
Francisco Rafael is a member of the infamous Arellano Felix family charged with heading the Tijuana Cartel, one of the largest suppliers of illegal
drugs to the United States.
Police dealt the cartel two serious blows last year, killing Ramon Arellano Felix in a shootout in February and arresting his brother Benjamin the
following month.
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