Posted on 04/29/2003 6:25:43 PM PDT by FITZ
A Mexican federal police pass belonging to Juarez Cartel drug lord Vicente Carrillo Fuentes was found by the FBI inside a West El Paso luxury home.
The find occurred during the search of the house of a former, unnamed girlfriend of Carrillo on Oct. 16, 2000, FBI officials said. The agency chose to release the information now to jump- start the investigation that lost momentum when FBI priorities shifted from drugs to counter-terrorism after the attacks of Sept. 11, 2001, said Hardrick Crawford, the FBI special agent in charge in El Paso.
Carrillo is wanted in the United States for allegedly ordering the deaths of 10 people, including seven men found in clandestine graves in three South Juarez ranches in 1999. He is believed to be in Mexico, where he heads a far-reaching drug trafficking network.
The pass, a green identification card, displays a false name, Jorge Miramontes Alvarez, a youthful photo of the drug lord, and a thumb print that couldn't be verified because the FBI doesn't have Carrillo's thumb prints on file, they said.
It isn't clear whether the card, which identifies Carrillo Fuentes as a "primer commandante," a police commander, is a legitimate state document or a copy.
Officials with the Procuradoria General de la Republica, Mexico's attorney general's office, said the undated pass appears to have been made under former Attorney General Diego Valades, around 1992. Federal police in Mexico City are investigating the case, officials said.
The card would not allow Carrillo Fuentes to enter the United States but might have been very useful in Mexico.
"It's not only a get-out-of-jail card, but an open-the-doors card," Crawford said. Carrillo may have used it to obtain information or take custody of someone. "It's serious," Crawford said.
The former girlfriend, who kept the card - and several titles for houses in Juarez - in a safe at her home, told the FBI she had taken it from Carrillo's wallet without his knowledge.
"We don't really know why," Crawford said. "As a trophy? He's a very famous man."
The house search did not turn up any drugs, the FBI said, and the woman has since sold the house and returned to Juarez.
Louie Gilot may be reached at lgilot@elpasotimes.com
Send an email to the FBI at http://www.el.paso@fbi.gov
Yes ---the hits keep on coming. It's scary though what this card and others like it have been used to do.
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