see also: in June 2007 News Releases:   CBP, ATF Join Canadians in Launching Firearms Public Information Campaign Along U.S.-Canadian Border   Marijuana-Embedded Bricks Crumble at El Paso Port   FDA, CBP Advise of Potential Health Risks from Unpasteurized Cheese After Large Cheese Seizures at Laredo Border   CBP Officers Discover Exotic Birds at California Border Station   U.S., New Zealand Establish Joint Trade Security Arrangement   CBP Reminds Pleasure Boaters of Reporting Requirements When Returning from Foreign Locations   California CBP Officers Find Smuggled Persons in Truck Engine Compartment ...more on cbp.gov:   CBP News Releases   Press Officers

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El Paso, TX – Today, U.S. Customs and Border Protection Border Patrol agents working with the Border Enforcement Security Task force (BEST) unit intercepted and arrested an individual wanted by Mexican authorities in connection to organized crime.

The subject, identified as Abel Diaz-Lucas, AKA: “Jorge Guevara-Perez” and “La Marrana,” was arrested after Border Patrol agents received a tip. The information was forwarded to the Border Patrol Intelligence Center, where agents were able to develop and confirm the validity of the information. The information was disseminated to the BEST unit, which is comprised of Border Patrol agents, Immigration and Customs Enforcement agents, and El Paso County Sheriff’s officers who ultimately moved in to arrest Perez in El Paso without incident.

The Border Patrol Sector Liaison Unit, working in conjunction with the Mexican agency Procuraduría General de la Republica (PGR), was able to positively identify Perez as a significant member of a kidnapping gang that operated in Mexico. It has been reported that members of the gang impersonated Mexican federal judicial agents kidnapped people for multiple ransoms, and often resorted to mutilation of the victims as a means to receive ransom. Perez has been sought by Mexican authorities since April 2002 and is listed as one of Mexico’s top ten most wanted.

Currently, coordination is being conducted by Border Patrol to repatriate Perez back to Mexico. He will be turned over to Mexico’s Agencia Federal de Investigación (AFI) and the PGR to stand trial in connection to his criminal activities in Mexico.

The BEST unit is an Immigration and Customs Enforcement led, DHS initiative that designates the establishment of a multi-agency task force to combat crimes committed by cross-border criminal organizations and to disrupt and dismantle criminal organizations.

U.S. Customs and Border Protection is the unified border agency within the Department of Homeland Security charged with the management, control and protection of our nation's borders at and between the official ports of entry. CBP is charged with keeping terrorists and terrorist weapons out of the country while enforcing hundreds of U.S. laws.