Mexican drug lord and FBI most wanted Rafael Caro Quintero arrested

Mexican police agents guard alleged drug trafficker Rafael Caro Quintero in Guadalajara, Jalisco on January 29, 2005. Photo / Supplied

An alleged drug kingpin from Mexico, who was on the FBI's list of top 10 most wanted fugitives for the murder of a US federal agent, has been captured after going into hiding for almost 10 years.

Rafael Caro Quintero, who was the founder of the Guadalajara cartel, one of Latin America's most powerful drug trafficking organisations during the 1980s, was arrested in Mexico on Friday local time.

He had a US$20 million reward offered by the US for his capture after he ordered the kidnap, torture and murder of Drug Enforcement Administration (DEA) special agent Enrique "Kiki" Camarena in 1985.

While Caro Quintero denied involvement in the DEA agent's murder, he was tried in Mexico and sentenced to 40 years for the murder, but was released on a legal technicality in 2013 after serving 28 years of his sentence.

The decision was overturned by Mexico's supreme court, but he was already in hiding.

Last year he also lost a final appeal against extradition to the United States, despite his lawyers arguing he had already been tried in a Mexican court.

He was running an arm of the infamous Sinaloa cartel before his arrest, according to the DEA, and has been described as "extremely dangerous" by the FBI.

FBI most wanted poster for Rafael Caro Quintero. Photo / Supplied

Caro Quintero has also been described as a "psychopath" and has been accused of a litany of crimes including murder, ordering executions, trafficking, possession and violence.

"The situation with Caro Quintero was pretty tragic," Mike Vigil, the DEA's former chief of international operations, told The World Post.

"He is a killer, a complete psychopath, who has no respect for human life. For him to be released after killing Kiki Camarena and a multitude of other people is a travesty of justice."

But the man himself has pleaded for "a second chance", telling Vice News back in 2016 he'd paid for his crimes, wanted to be left in peace and refuting reports that he is currently heading an assault on territory controlled by former allies in the Sinaloa cartel.