Mexico authorizes U.S. seizure of drug lord Caro Quintero’s property

A Mexican court has authorized the United States to seize drug lord Rafael Caro Quintero’s assets in Mexico, the U.S. Justice Department said in a statement on Thursday.
The ruling is the first use of a new asset forfeiture law that could strengthen cooperation between the two countries in their fight against drug cartels.
Quintero, a co-founder of the once-powerful Guadalajara Cartel, was convicted in a Mexican court in 1985 of murdering a U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent and was captured in Mexico in July but has so far avoided extradition.
Under its civil forfeiture law, Mexico will allow the U.S. Justice Department to divest Quintero of property in the Mexican city of Guadalajara.
U.S. justice officials said Quintero purchased real estate with earnings from decades of trafficking of marijuana, cocaine and methamphetamine to the United States.