The French International Criminal Police Organization (Interpol) issued a wanted persons alert on Monday for a list of 15 fugitives which included Rafael Caro Quintero, joining U.S. and Mexican authorities in their hunt for the 61-year-old ex-leader of the Guadalajara drug cartel. Caro Quintero walked out of a Mexican prison on August 9 after a judge in Jalisco state nullified his 40-year sentence for the 1985 kidnapping, torture and murder of U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena", ruling that the cartel boss had been improperly tried in state court rather than at the federal level.
The former drug boss has been in hiding since Nov. 6, when amid an outcry from U.S. lawmakers and law-enforcement agencies as well as domestic fears that the Jalisco judge was persuaded by drug trafficker allies of Caro Quintero, the Mexican Department of Justice (PGR) filed an appeal of the decision before the Supreme Court, revoking the state court's order of release. According to Reuters, the American government has put out a call for information leading to his arrest, with an award of $5 million.
On Monday, Interpol seemed to indicate, however unintentionally, that authorities' search for Caro Quintero has thus far produced little in the way of strong leads. The French agency wrote that "it is believe that this person is in the region of the Americas" in putting out a call for "any information, however insignificant it may seem" on the whereabouts of Caro Quintero, whom it warned could be armed and dangerous. "We ask that you contact Interpol at the email fugitive@interpol.int."
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