Reputed drug lord won't face extradition

TIJUANA, Mexico, Oct. 28 (UPI) -- It could be years before U.S. officials get a chance to try reputed Mexican drug lord Eduardo Arellano Felix for breaking American laws, officials say.

Arellano, a Mexican national indicted on drug trafficking charges by a U.S. grand jury in 2003, will likely have to face charges and serve prison time in Mexico before he can be extradited to the United States, a high-ranking Mexican official told local media Monday, the San Diego Union-Tribune reported.

Arellano, 52, the last of five brothers thought to have controlled the Tijuana drug trade for years, was captured Saturday after a gunbattle with police in Tijuana and taken to Mexico City.

"What we have seen over the past six or seven years is, after languishing in the Mexican judicial system, the Mexican government has eventually turned over some of the leadership guys in the cartels (to the United States)," Peter Nunez, a former U.S. attorney in San Diego, told the Union-Tribune.

Drug war violence continued in Tijuana Monday, as six men were shot to death in four separate incidents on the city's east side, including one killing next to a school, Baja California officials said.