Accused Cartel Leaders Refuse To Enter Pleas

SAN DIEGO (AP) – Four accused leaders of the Arellano Felix drug, cartel today refused to enter pleas to drug, racketeering and money laundering charges in San Diego.

All claimed they were wrongly extradited from Mexico. A U.S. magistrate entered not guilty pleas on their behalf.

Jesus “Chuy” Labra was considered the cartel’s financial brains before he was arrested in 2000 while watching his son play soccer in Tijuana, Mexico.

The U.S. attorney’s office in San Diego declined comment on whether the defendants were wrongly extradited.

Labra and nine others were sent to the U.S. in December. Labra and three other alleged leaders of the Arellano Felix cartel, all Mexican citizens, were in Houston before their first court appearance in San Diego.

Labra declined to seek bail. The judge scheduled a hearing Jan. 27 to consider bail for the others.

(Copyright 2009 by The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved.)