Officials: Suspect in LI drug case captured

A Mexican national who was arrested in 2003 on charges of supplying tons of marijuana to Long Island distributors, but fled after he was released on bail, has been captured in Mexico and extradited back to Long Island, officials said Tuesday.

Bruno Garcia-Arreola was recently caught by Mexican Marines working with United States investigators, officials said.

Arreola is scheduled to be arraigned Thursday in United States District Court in Central Islip on charges of conspiracy to smuggle drugs and bail jumping, according to Robert Nardoza, a spokesman for United States Attorney Loretta Lynch.

Charles Dunne, the U.S. marshal for the Eastern District, said in a statement: "The United States Marshals, working with our law enforcement partners at home and abroad, never stopped looking for Arreola for eight years. This case illustrates that once the United States marshals start looking for you, there really is nowhere you can hide."

Arreola, a Mexican national, was arrested in Las Vegas in 2003 in connection with his role in supplying marijuana on Long Island, but fled to Mexico after he was released on $20,000 bail by a judge over the objections of federal prosecutors, according to a letter filed in court Wednesday by Assistant United States Attorney Burton Ryan.

The letter, seeking to bar Arreola from being released on bail, said he has been "identified by the Mexican government as a high-ranking member" of the Sinaloa Cartel." That cartel is "considered by the DEA to be 'the most powerful drug trafficking organization in the world,' " the letters said.

Several members of the Long Island ring Arreola supplied have been convicted and sentenced to lengthy prison terms, officials said.

At the time of Arreola's initial arrest in 2003, officials said the marijuana was smuggled from Mexico to Long Island in trailer trucks, vans and cars with hidden compartments. Most of the marijuana was stored in a warehouse in an international trade zone next to Long Island MacArthur Airport in Ronkonkoma.

If convicted, Arreola faces 10 years to life in prison.