Mexico City : The arrest of Mexico's ‘King of Heroin' on Wednesday points to the source of the drug shifting from Colombia to Mexico.
Jose Antonio Medina, nicknamed ‘Don Pepe', is allegedly responsible for running thousands of pounds of heroin into southern California each year, authorities said.
Mexico's powerful drug cartels are gaining a foothold in the lucrative US market as production and purity decline in Colombia.
Medina, who was arrested in the western state of Michoacan is being held for prosecution, said Ramon Pequeno, head of the anti-narcotics division of Mexico's federal police.
Medina, 36, ran a complex smuggling operation that hauled 200 kilograms of heroin each month across the Mexican border in Tijuana for La Familia drug cartel, Pequeno said.
Surge
Heroin production in Mexico rose from 17 pure metric tonnes in 2007 to 38 tonnes in 2008, with the increase translating to lower heroin prices and more heroin-related overdoses and more overdose deaths, according to US government estimates.
Border Patrol agents seized 4.8 million pounds of narcotics at border crossings last year, and heroin seizures saw the most significant increase during that time, with a 316 per cent jump over 2008.
Mexico and the US are working together to counter a handful of increasingly violent drug cartels that supply most of the illicit drugs sold in the US.
The arrest came the day after top US Cabinet officials, led by Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton, visited Mexico to underscore their shared responsibility for the country's drug-related violence.
Nearly 17,900 people have died in drug-related violence since President Felipe Calderon launched an assault on cartels after taking office in December 2006.
Such killings are believed to be the result of drug cartels fighting among themselves for control of the drug trade, a lucrative business estimated to bring $25 billion into Mexico each year.
Police in Mexico City said on Thursday they had seized $1.7 million in small bills and arrested two Colombians and two Mexicans for allegedly running financial operations for cartels.
