Founder of Mexican Drug Cartel Transferred to House Arrest After 30 Years in Prison For Killing US Agent

Narcotics illustration. (Wikimedia Commons/SAC Neil Chapman)

JAKARTA - 76-year-old Mexican drug lord Miguel Angel Felix Gallardo was transferred to house arrest, after three decades in prison, by a district judge, prosecutors said Monday.

Felix Gallardo, a legendary figure in the drug world and co-founder of the Guadelajara cartel, was a pioneer in the massive cocaine trade into the United States, in alliance with the late Colombian drug lord Pablo Escobar.

The former police officer was jailed in 1989 for the murder of a United States Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) agent, citing Reuters, September 13.

Felix Gallardo, who recently spent time in hospital and is reported to be in poor health, is expected to be placed under house arrest on Tuesday, according to media reports.

The federal prosecutor's office told Reuters it had opposed the decision. Separately, the United States Embassy in Mexico could not immediately be reached for comment.

The news comes after Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador said last year he was open to releasing Felix Gallardo on the grounds of old age and poor health.

"I don't want anyone to suffer. I don't want anyone to go to jail," President Lopez Obrador said at the time, adding that prosecutors would review the case.

To note, President Lopez Obrador previously also supported the release of thousands of elderly prisoners, victims of torture or health problems, as well as those who committed minor crimes.