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Víctor Manuel Félix Félix, "El Señor"
Eight drug traffickers belonging to Mexican drug lord Joaquin "El Chapo" Guzman's organization have been captured, including a man presumed to be Guzman's relative and confidant, officials said Wednesday.
Federal Police arrested Victor Manuel Felix Felix, alias "El Senor," who worked for the Sinaloa cartel and was the leader of a financial network.
Felix is believed to be Chapo's "consuegro" -- a Spanish word for the father-in-law of one's son or daughter.
At a press conference, Ramon Pequeño, head of the Federal Police Drug Enforcement Division, said the arrest was carried out under Operation Beehive, which began on March 18 and covered operations in the states of Jalisco, Quintana Roo and the metropolitan area of Mexico City.
Felix managed illicit operations with resources from money laundering in Ecuador and Colombia.
Along with "El Senor" eight other individuals were detained. Additionally authorities seized 500 kilos of cocaine and $500,000 dollars in cash.
The others arrested were identified as Luis Roberto García Fierro, Jorge Guillermo González Cárdenas, alias "El Ingeniero", Rodrigo Colmenares y Sánchez y Soto, Eli Romano Darwish, Francisco Xavier Colmenares y Sánchez y Soto, Jorge Guillermo González Guerra, Armando Medina Quintero and José Daniel Espinosa Caballero.
According to Pequeño, all of the men are considered suspects in drug trafficking, money laundering and organized crime.
The federal official said the intelligence work which resulted in the arrests began in mid-2009 with the exchange of information between Mexico and the National Police of Ecuador.
"It should be noted that with coordinated efforts with the Attorney General and the National Police of Ecuador it was learned that the organization established in the city of Guayaquil a cell formed by members from Colombia, Ecuador and Mexico, which used various properties for the collection and safekeeping of drugs for later shipment to Mexico and the United States, "said Pequeño.
Additionally, with information derived from these investigations Ecuador Police arrested nine people associated with the Sinaloa cartel with four tons of cocaine.
The nine men arrested in Ecuador were identified as Ceferino Rodríguez Tirado, Alejandra Costich Esqueda, and Rigoberto Villa López, of Mexican nationality; Juan Carlos Naranjo Alemán, Gerardo Benítez Mera Ibarra, Freddy Fabián Espinel Ruiz and Yandry Bernabeth Cevallos Palacios, from Ecuador and two Colombians, César Augusto Fernández Ávila and Gilberto Giraldo Ávila.
gobiernofederal
Sources: CNN, Grupo Reforma
