Mexican fugitive behind bars

Villanueva went missing before his term of office expired

A day after his arrest, one of Mexico's most wanted fugitives, has been transferred to a maximum security jail near Mexico City.

Mr Villanueva, the former governor of the state of Quintana Roo, was apprehended on Thursday in the Caribbean resort of Cancun after two years on the run.

He is accused of helping drug smuggling cartels to land huge quantities of cocaine in the state during his six-year term of office.

Fox is expected to use the case to show his tough stance on drugs

The Mexican attorney general said the arrest followed intense work between the Mexican authorities and international law enforcement agencies.

When Mario Villanueva disappeared just days before his term of office was due to come to an end - along with his immunity from prosecution - the search for him spread out across Central America.

He was accused of using his power as governor in Quintana Roo to protect some of Mexico's biggest drugs cartels as they landed tonnes of Colombian cocaine in his backyard.

Embarrassment to authorities

Mr Villanueva was easily the highest official ever to be accused of drug trafficking while in office and, as such, he became both a huge embarrassment to the authorities and one of Mexico's most wanted men.

So the last place that most people expected him to turn up was in his old neighbourhood.

According to the Attorney General Rafael Macedo, the police found the former governor with two friends driving through the Caribbean resort town of Cancun - the biggest and glitziest of the state's tourist attractions.

But according to Mr Macedo, the arrest was no accident.

He told local television it was the result of intense work and information exchanges with different international agencies, especially the US Drug Enforcement Administration.

'Political vendetta'

Mr Villanueva has denied any wrong-doing. In a video tape he sent to a national television network soon after he disappeared, the fugitive said he was the victim of a political vendetta, and that the charges had been fabricated.

His party, the Institutional Revolutionary Party, or PRI, has described the timing of his arrest as suspicious.

The party, which last year lost control of the presidency, said his detention may have been staged in order to discredit the PRI ahead of a key election for governor in the state of Yucatan this Sunday.