Drug kingpin Oscar Arriola extradited

MAR 04 -- DENVER -- Yesterday Mexico extradited drug kingpin Oscar Arriola to Colorado to face drug charges, Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) Special Agent in Charge Jeffrey D. Sweetin and U.S. Attorney David Gaouette announced. Arriola was flown in a DEA plane from Mexico to El Paso, Texas, and from there to Denver, Colorado. He is scheduled to appear in U.S. District Court in Colorado at 2:00 p.m. today before U.S. Magistrate Judge Craig B. Shaffer.

Oscar Arriola was indicted by a federal grand jury in the District of Colorado on December 16, 2003. On June 2, 2005, Oscar Arriola, his brother Miguel Arriola, and the Arriola organization were designated through the Department of Treasury’s Office of Foreign Assets Control, under the Foreign Narcotics Kingpin Designation Act, often referred to as the “Drug Kingpin Act.” Oscar Arriola was arrested in Mexico on February 2, 2006, and has been in Mexican custody pending extradition to the U.S. ever since. Oscar Arriola’s brother, Miguel Arriola, was extradited from Mexico to the United States in January of 2007. Miguel Arriola has previously pled guilty of drug trafficking crimes in Colorado, and awaits sentencing.

According to available court documents, the DEA Colorado Springs Resident Office initiated an investigation in June 2002 that eventually led to the identification of Oscar Arriola as the head of an international cocaine trafficking organization that smuggled and distributed more than two tons of cocaine per month in the United States. In addition, the Arriola organization allegedly collected hundreds of millions of dollars in drug proceeds in the United States and transported the cash to Arriola and other leaders of the organization in Mexico.

P.R