Mexico drugs lawyer shot dead

Arellano Felix's arrest was hailed as a major victory

A lawyer with links to the recently-arrested leader of one of Mexico's most notorious drugs cartels has been shot dead, police say.

Rodolfo Carrillo Barragan was found shot in the head near his house on Monday in the northern border city of Tijuana.

Police warn the killing may signal the beginning of a bloody turf war between rival drug-smuggling gangs.

Arellano was arrested on Saturday

Mr Carrillo Barragan was said to be associated with the family of Benjamin Arellano Felix, who was arrested on Saturday.

"Unofficially, it's said he took care of their business," police spokesman Raul Garcia told Reuters.

The lawyer was not directly representing the alleged drugs baron, who is charged with bribery, drug smuggling and criminal association.

But several local media reports said he advised the cartel - known as the Arellano Felix organisation.

A police report said that witnesses reported hearing a gunshot and then seeing a black-clad man flee in a black Grand Prix with tinted windows.

Turf war fears

Benjamin Arellano Felix confirmed on arrest that his brother, Ramon, was killed in a police shoot-out last month.

The Arellano Felix gang used a tunnel to take drugs into the US

The authorities fear that the killing may be the beginning of a battle between rival cartels for control of the prime trafficking turf the brothers occupied in the Baja California peninsula drug corridor.

"In the context it looks like it could be a result of the death of Ramon and the arrest of Benjamin," said Victor Clark, the director of a cross-border rights group in Tijuana.

But he also said the murder could have been in connection with an unrelated case.

Key cartel

US agents hailed Mr Arellano Felix's arrest as a major victory in the war against the cross-border trafficking of Colombian cocaine, heroin and marijuana.

Donald Thornhill of the US Drug Enforcement Agency, who has been tracking the brothers since the 1980s, described them as the glue which kept the organisation together.

He estimated the gang was responsible for up to 30% of the drugs smuggled in to the United States.

The United States is pressing for the extradition of Mr Arellano Felix for trial on charges of drug-trafficking and money-laundering.