A man believed to be responsible for the massacre of 19 people in a northern Mexican state 10 years ago has been arrested while taking out his garbage in east Los Angeles, local media reported Sunday.
Jesus Ruben Moncada was taken into custody Thursday night outside a small house in a Los Angeles suburb, and was handed over to 500 Mexican federal agents massed at a border crossing Friday, the U.S. Immigration and Customs Enforcement (ICE) announced Saturday.
Moncada, 33, was a suspect of such great security concern that Mexican and U.S. authorities cleared the border crossing of its ubiquitous vendors and taxi drivers.
The fugitive reportedly thought he was being deported only for being in the United States illegally.
The ICE officials said Moncada made no resistance when he was arrested in the Los Angeles house, and told U.S. immigration police that he had crossed into the U.S. nearly 10 years ago, just after the massacre occurred in a drug battle in Baja California.
Moncada was known as a high-ranking member of the Felix Arellano gang, a dangerous Mexican drug trafficking ring along the U.S.- Mexican border.
He faces charges in Mexico for the execution-style slaying of 19 people at a ranch in Baja California in 1998.
"This man is suspected of being involved in one of the most-heinous mass killings in recent times," said Brian DeMore, chief inspector of the ICE's Los Angeles field office, in a statement.
He added that 75 serious criminals from foreign nations have been captured in southern California and extradited for justice in their home courts.
Mexican officials hailed Moncada's arrest and transfer as a major law enforcement breakthrough, calling it "a direct result of the ongoing cooperative efforts" involving law enforcement agencies in Mexico and the United States.
Source:Xinhua
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