Colombian drug lord accused of distributing and selling $500 million of cocaine is captured with his son while dining at a restaurant in Mexico

  • Colombian drug lord Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum, one of the DEA's 30 most wanted drug dealers, was arrested in Queretaro, Mexico on Tuesday
  • A team headed by Mexican federal agents with support from the marines and the local Interpol agency also nabbed his son, Alfonso Chavez and five others
  • Chavez-Gastelum was being investigated by authorities as part of a three-year probe that looked into the distribution and sale of  7,700lbs of cocaine
  • He is currently being held at the Altiplano, a maximum security jail from where El Chapo once escaped. His extradition to the United States is pending 

Colombian drug lord Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum was on the DEA's most wanted list

Colombian drug lord Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum was on the DEA's most wanted list

One of the 30 most wanted drug dealers on the Drug Enforcement Agency's [DEA] radar has been finally arrested while dining at a restaurant in Mexico.

On Wednesday, Francisco Domingo Servien, the governor of the state of Queratoro, confirmed the arrest of Colombian drug lord Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum, his son Alfonso Chavez and five other accomplices. 

A team of Mexican federal agents backed by the marines and officers from the local Interpol agency crashed Mochomos, a popular chain restaurant in the city of Santiago de Queretaro on Tuesday night, assisting the DEA wrap up its three-year investigation.

According to Noticieros Televisa, Chavez-Gastelum is being held at the Altiplano maximum security penitentiary, the same facility from where El Chapo escaped from in July 2015 and where many of the Mexico's most dangerous detained cartel leaders are housed.

Chavez-Gastelum was named in a September indictment by the United States Department of Justice in the Central District of California of heading a criminal organization that transported cocaine worth hundreds of millions of dollars from Colombia to Mexico for eventual sale in the United States.

Captured drug cartel leader Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum was dining at Mochomos, a popular chain restaurant in the city of Santiago de Queretaro when he was arrested

Captured drug cartel leader Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum was dining at Mochomos, a popular chain restaurant in the city of Santiago de Queretaro when he was arrested

Alfonso Chavez was one of the seven men arrested by Mexican authorities, who raided a restaurant in the state of Queretaro on Tuesday night. He is the son of Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum

Alfonso Chavez was one of the seven men arrested by Mexican authorities, who raided a restaurant in the state of Queretaro on Tuesday night. He is the son of Angel Humberto Chavez-Gastelum

U.S. authorities already have in custody Victor Hugo Cuellar-Silva, a Colombian native, who oversaw Chavez-Gastelum's network and was extradited from Colombia on September 17.

On that the same day seven other individuals who allegedly distributed the narcotics in California and Massachusetts were also arrested.

According to the unsealed indictment, Chavez-Gastelum's network extended its drug trafficking operation to Thailand. 

During the three-year investigation, law enforcement agents seized nearly 7,700 pounds of cocaine, with a potential U.S. street value of $500 million. 

One forfeiture removed 1,329 kilos of coke from a plane that crashed into the Caribbean sea after departing Venezuela.

A separate operation found 833 kilograms of cocaine floating off the coast of Tumaco, Colombia.

More than 700 kilos of cocaine and over 30 kilos of methamphetamine were also removed from a house in Tijuana, Mexico.

'Chavez-Gastelum would face a mandatory life sentence because he is accused of being the principal manager of the enterprise, and the other four would face mandatory minimum sentences of 20 years in federal prison,' according to the U.S. Attorney’s Office for the Central District of California.

Chavez-Gastelum's extradition to the U.S. is pending.